The Best Days Of Our Lives
by crimzon
Summary: Ch7 up now. Fayt is the new kid at Kirlsa High, transferring from Greeton. Rated T for mild violence, some language, and some drug use.
1. The New Guy

The Best Days Of Our Lives 

Hello everyone! This is my first fanfic on this site, so if it's not top notch, forgive me :P I know many people hate high school fanfics, but that's not going to stop me from writing one. I've written three chapters now, spanning over thirty pages P I'll put up the first chapter, and if it gets decent reviews, I'll put up the rest of them later on tonight.

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Ocean, or any of the characters.

I know that some of the characters will seem wayyy out of character, but hey, that's the fun part of writing  As an example, the Albel with Maria thing. Sorry, Albel x Nel fans. Don't kill me for trying this! Let's just see how it develops…

First and foremost, I'd like to thank Sorceress Myst for writing the other SO3 high school fic, 'Aquios High'. That inspired me :P Rest assured, this one will be a LOT different from hers. It'll portray the somewhat _darker_ side of high school life, like peer pressure, drugs, gangs, fights, guns, and stuff like that. Just a heads up 

This particular fanfic includes the cast of Star Ocean: Till The End Of Time starring as the main characters, as well as many, MANY cameo appearances by characters from other games, and references to some of my favourite movies. See if you can spot them. The point of this fanfic? Just a day (or should I say days) in the life of a student at _Kirlsa High_. And what better place to put a school than the crumbling Kirsla Training Facility? I'll do my best, so enjoy!

The setting: This takes place on Elicoor II, and let's just say that the planet has caught up to the technology level of modern day Earth (2005), to make things easier. There's still swords and axes, and stuff.

And of course, the lovely main cast…

**Group A**

Fayt Leingod (17): A transfer student from Vedizan Institution, in the Kingdom of Greeton. His parents got fed up with him not getting his work done because of video games, and therefore sent him to Kirsla High, on the other end of the planet. Seems a bit extreme, but then again, once you've genetically modified your kid, you might as well throw in all the works. Enters Kirlsa High as a kind of loner in the middle of the eleventh grade. He takes up residence with Azazer Goldman (shut up! I couldn't think of a decent last name for him) at the south end of Kirlsa.

Sophia Esteed (16): A cheerful young lady who is liked by most students and teachers. Good at getting people out of tight spots, especially when it comes to school. She resides in Peterny with her best friends, Maria and Mirage. You wouldn't believe it, but little Sophia actually ran away from home when she was six years old, and was brought up by the two aforementioned lovely ladies. She has the golden tongue for gossip!

Cliff Fittir (18): The joker of the entire school. He failed grade eleven, and is therefore the oldest of the bunch. He loves lifting weights and getting smashed every weekend; quite the party animal. He is also a rather influential character on others, and often leads many people into awkward, albeit humorous situations. His parents were killed in a car accident when he was just a little boy, which he seems to be taking quite well. It's hard to get him angry, but once he does, you'd better watch out. Since he can't read musical notes, he settles for just playing drums in his thrash metal band, _Crimzon_. Lives down the street from Mirage in Peterny.

Mirage Koas (17): This girl is living proof that blondes are NOT dumb. Top grade student, but don't mistake her for a nerd. Although she seems quiet in school, she parties as much as the wildest of them outside of it. She's a wailing harmonica player, although that probably has no use in high school as of yet. Lives in Peterny with Maria and Sophia. Really friendly, once you get to know her.

Maria Traydor (17): A very popular young lady at Kirlsa High, and with good reason. Her leadership has propelled her to the student council president position. Her attitude is what makes her so well known, however. On one hand, you have Sophia and Clair, who are too meek to really make an impression. Maria, however, knows what she's doing, and rarely lets her emotions affect her. She's rather good-looking as well, but any guy who tries to make a move on her simply wussies out when she gives that cold stare. Who knows? Maybe she finds guys who flirt unattractive.

Nel Zelpher (17): Voted hottest girl in Kirlsa High. Practically every guy in the school tries to get in her pants. Luckily, our beloved Nel is a track star, and probably has the strength to fend for herself anyway. That is, unless she's missing her daggers. Serious about everything, and never, ever gets stoned or drunk. Well, by never, I mean sometimes. Lives in Aquaria, and runs, yes, RUNS to school every morning.

Albel Nox (17): A quiet, but frightening young man, around teachers, at least. His arrogant character is just a disguise to cover up his inner self at school. Most teachers look at him as the delinquent, but can't be bothered to do anything about it, thinking he'll never chance. In actuality, he is quite wild, as well as sociable out of school. That's not to say he never gets angry, though. He is the talented lead guitarist of Cliff's metal band, _Crimzon_. His long hair makes headbanging a cinch. His home is in Airyglyph, but he stays with his Uncle Woltar in the mansion in Kirlsa during the school year. And yes, he has both his arms in this one.

Roger S. Huxley (16): A tenth grader who decides to fit in with the older bunch. Hails from Surferio, and moved in with his friends Lezard and Vellion, who, coincidentally, live down the street from Roger's original house. Ooooh, rebel. Anyways, he tries to start up his own band, _The Stone Golems_, but obviously, things don't work out. Don't let the kid's small build fool you. He can cause quite a ruckus when he wants ;)

Peppita Rossetti (15): A tenth grader. She lives all across the continent of Gaitt, wherever her traveling circus decides to go. She transfers schools VERY often, but always comes back sooner or later. Her cheerful attitude makes her a very likeable character. That's the life of a circus performer. Funnily enough, she's actually going out with Roger S. Huxley.

More to come, of course!

Group B 

Azazer Goldman (18): A senior attending Kirlsa High. He's not at all friendly, and acts on impulse. Of course, he's one of the major druggies at KH, along with his little gang, led by Demetrio Pendragon. His goal is to get laid before the end of the week by whatever means possible. Unfortunately, he's had this goal for over two years now, and still hasn't succeeded. Has a grudge against Fayt, as soon as the first day is over.

Schweimer Hollinger (19): A twelfth grader at Kirsla High. He's known to be violent, cruel, and very stubborn. He's been trying to get Nel for a good three years now, but luckily, without success. He's known around the school for his guttural voice and comes from a disgustingly rich family.

Demetrio Pendragon (19): Yet another druggie at Kirlsa High. His lust is uncontrollable, and he often goes out with younger girls than him, so that he has a chance of getting them in bed. Him and Cliff go way back… as enemies, that is. Each one continually plays pranks on the other, trying to steal the other's drugs. The score is currently at 101 – 94, with Cliff in the lead.

Belzeber Sphere (18): He's spoiled. He's frisky. He's flaming. He's… Belzeber! Being the son of Sphere, the owner of a large video gaming business, he's naturally loaded with Fol. His Ferrari shows that. Aside from being known for his wealth, he's also known to be on the more feminine side. Actually, he's almost 100 certainly gay.

Berial Williams (18): A tough guy who has been best friends with Belzeber since he entered high school. Star of the wrestling, AND boxing teams at Kirlsa High, Berial is one of the strongest guys in the school. He used to be quite friendly, that is, until he started hanging out with Demetrio and friends. Now, he's a gun-toting badass who'll blast you into bits before listening to what you have to say. One thing does remain from his days of being a good boy, though, and that's his knowledge of Elicoor's history. He is by far the most intelligent of the bunch.

Maverick Vox (19): He's a pretty quiet guy, but don't let that mislead you. He does the most hard drugs out of his group. Known by all as simply 'Vox', this guy is one hell of a sword fighter. That is, when he's not high, and he has his sword. Without it, he couldn't hurt a fly.

More to come, of course!

So, those are the main characters. Quite a long and boring introduction, so here's the story…

**Chapter 1: The New Guy**

A blue-haired teen walked into his new home for the first time. Fayt Leingod sighed in exasperation as he thought about his first day of school in a run-down continent like this. He couldn't believe it, there weren't even transporters. There were trees and grass outside, for crying out loud! Talk about lack of technology… A stern looking boy, about Fayt's age, walked up to him, and scowled.

"So, you're the one who's sharing this house with me for the next year? You'd better keep to yourself…" Azazer Goldman muttered, as he gave Fayt a death stare.

"_Sigh… just what I need… this guy doesn't seem like the friendly type," _Fayt thought to himself, reaching out his hand towards Azazer. "My name's Fayt Leingod. Nice to meet you."

"Hmph," snorted Azazer, before retreating into his room, leaving Fayt's hand hanging there.

"Sigh… for once, I'd like to have a friend… oh well, I guess I might as well get some rest before tomorrow. I have a feeling things just won't be the same as in Vedizan, with all the computers and video games…" Fayt said aloud to himself. He went up to his new room, and plugged in his stereo, computer, and television. Unfortunately, Fayt's Sony PlayStation 6 was still in his home city of Vedizan, with his parents. Without further thoughts, Fayt put some gino beats on the stereo, and fell asleep. He woke up next morning, dragged himself out of bed, and walked to school…

* * *

_May I have your attention please, students. This is your principal Luther speaking. I have recently been made aware of the painting and scraping of swear words on the back walls of our school. Any more cases of vandalism on our school walls will result in a 3-month suspension. That's right, 3 MONTHS. Muahahahahah! DELETION! DELETION! DELETI…_

As Principal Luther made his usual surreal morning announcements, students walked by, not paying any attention whatsoever. They were used to this sort of thing, and most of them suspected that Luther was just rambling on because he was easily amused by things such as this. In the cafeteria, a blonde boy had everyone rolling in their seats from some sort of story about how he spent his weekend.

"So I says to him, I says, 'DEMETRIO, THE COPS ARE COMIN! GIMME THE WEED AND RUN FOR YOUR LIFE, RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!' And the bloody fool chucks me the good stuff without a second thought, gets in his car, and drives off a cliff, with the cops in hot pursuit! An' the best part was that I earned myself a nice stash of weed from the whole situation…" a teary-eyed Cliff was saying. "Score 102 - 94!"

The laughing students watched as an unusually hyper Albel Nox did a rare re-enactment of Demetrio's panic attack on Saturday night, and everyone doubled up with laughter again.

* * *

As Fayt walked into Kirlsa High for the first time in his life, he stared at the crumbling stone walls, and sighed. What kind of a backwards school was this? _Stone_ walls? Where the hell was the titanium alloy walls that were so abundant in Greeton? He noticed an eruption of laughter coming from the cafeteria. _"Seems like a good place to make some friends…"_ he thought to himself. As he walked in, everyone automatically silenced up and looked at him. Well, there was nothing left to do but introduce himself. "Uhh, hey there everyone, my name's Fayt Leingod, and…" 

"And you're an alcholic" finished the blonde boy, Cliff, resulting in another hearty torrent of laughter from the whole cafeteria.

Fayt felt his face go red, and scratched the back of his head. He walked out of the cafeteria, with everyone still laughing, and shortly afterwards, ran into a REALLY good-looking girl with red hair. She was sweating, which made her look all that much hotter. "Oh man, I am so sorry for ru… _wha_?" Fayt stopped mid sentence, as the girl in front of him began to take off her shirt, revealing her… bra.

"Can I help you?" she asked Fayt, who was staring at chest with his mouth half-open.

"Uh, I, uh… what I meant was, yeah, um…" Fayt never really talked to girls in Greeton, but he had seen enough to know that this one was, without a doubt, the hottest one he had ever seen in his entire life.

_"Dammit! Don't choke up now, try talk to her!"_

Fayt's mind was spinning. Here he was, in front of a hot girl, half naked, and he wasn't doing anything about it. What. The. Fuck? "Uh, listen, I'm new here, and I was wondering, if you would like to have se- I mean, if you would like to show me around?"

_"Man, that was close. She must have heard that first bit. Better run for it…"_

However, as Fayt turned around to try and sprint away, Nel Zelpher grabbed him by the shoulder. She now had a T-shirt on, presumably taken from her backpack.

_"SHIT!"_

"Of course I'll show you around. Always glad to help out the underdog." Nel said, with the air of an army general.

"_Underdog?"_ Fayt thought, perplexed. _"Ah, whatever."_

"Great! Well, uh, my name is Fayt Leingod, and I just transferred from Vedizan Institution, up in Greeton…"

"Are you serious!" Nel asked, completely abandoning her serious tone of voice. "Greeton? I've ALWAYS wanted to go there! Did you know that us Gaittians aren't even allowed in there? Like, what the hell! Come on, tell me about it!" She absent-mindedly grabbed Fayt by the arm, and looked at him expectantly.

However, _"Score"_ was the only thing that went through Fayt's head. _"I guess this year is gonna be pretty cool after all."_

"Heh, alright…" said Fayt, as they began walking the halls.

* * *

It turned out that both Fayt and Nel had the same homeroom. _"At least I won't be alone,"_ thought Fayt. They walked up to their Chemistry classroom, talking as if they had been friends ever since they were born. He couldn't believe how easy it was to talk to her! Finally, Fayt knew what it was like to have a nice chat with a friend. Nel took her usual seat, while Fayt plopped down next to her. 

"You. Get out of that seat," a low and guttural voice said. Fayt turned around, only to come face-to-face with a tall boy with spiked black hair who looked very unshaven.

"Schweimer, go to hell. I've told you that I won't go out with you, so won't you please leave me alone?" Nel pleaded.

Schweimer's face flushed with anger. "Nel! You'd take this blue-haired freak ov…"

"She'd take anyone over someone whose voice resembles a clogged toilet," Cliff loudly said across the room. This time, even Fayt laughed. Schweimer took one evil look at the whole class, and left the room, most likely to plot some more violent acts against little children like Roger.

So, it looked as if things were going alright for Fayt. During Professor Adray's lecture on hydrocarbons, Cliff, Albel, and a brown-haired girl named Sophia had moved next to Fayt and Nel. Instantly, however surprised Fayt was, he became friends with all three of them, although getting Albel to talk was harder than it should have been. And to think, they had laughed him out of the cafeteria earlier that morning! Fayt was sure that this year would be an awesome one.

Professor Adray began to show signs that he knew the five were socializing. Albel glared at him, and he stopped mid-sentence. Sophia solved the rest of the problem by asking him what the formula was for propane. Adray, having no knowledge of Chemistry whatsoever, and having only gotten the job thanks to pure accident, was instantly silenced. Luckily for him, the bell went, and the rest, as they say, was history.

* * *

Fayt was rather pleased with himself, having met two more friends in the first half of his first day at Kirlsa High. In his Computer Science class, he had tied with a nice-looking Mirage Koas for the most knowledgeable student about technology. This in itself must have been some feat, because the whole class automatically got down on their knees and started praying to Fayt. _"Heh, little do they know that I come from Greeton. Keep praying, you silly bastards, keep praying."_

In his Symbological Genetics class, he met Maria Traydor, who was just as interested in S.G. as Fayt was. Instead of listening to lectures, they spent the whole class practicing symbological genetical modifications on a small Porcupine they found in the corner of the class. How the teacher managed to let this slip past him, no one knew. But then again, when your teacher is Professor Gossam, you can pretty much get away with anything. He would much rather spend all class flirting with his female students. Unfortunately for him, no one ever paid attention. At the end of class, Fayt persuaded Maria to change the normal school week to a four-day week. After all, Maria was student council president.

* * *

So, it was lunch time now. Nel had gone for a run, so that she wouldn't waste a good hour of the day. Sophia was taking the rest of the day off to obtain her driver's license, something she had wanted to do ever since she turned 16. Maria had a student council meeting (hopefully one in which she would be able to enforce the 4-day week). So that basically just left Mirage, Cliff, Albel, and Fayt. 

Albel was sharpening a small dagger, while Mirage was playfully punching Cliff on the shoulder. Cliff was already treating Fayt like one of his best friends, for whatever reason, Fayt had no idea. They were planning to fool around with Lenneth Valkyrie, a moody tenth grader. She was sitting with Freya, Peppita and Roger.

"Alright, Fayt, buddy, let me tell you something. Lenneth here thinks that she's an actual goddess. Is that ridiculous or what? She's really just a midget with funny looking ears, when you look at her. However, we know one thing. If there's anything that Lenneth can't stand, it's having her lunch thrown in her face."

"But Cliff, I don't think anyone can stand that…" Fayt replied.

"Well, yeah. Uh, just get on with it. This is your test, to see if you'll fit in well with us."

So Fayt walked up to Lenneth, grabbed her poutine, and smirked. He looked over his shoulder, and saw Cliff, Mirage, and Albel gesturing frantically to throw it at her. When he looked back, Lenneth had stood up. This didn't make her much taller than when she was sitting down, but nevertheless, it was noticeable.

"You don't want to be doing that," said Lenneth sweetly, although with a hint of malice in her voice.

"Oh yeah? And what are you going to do about it, huh? Huh?" asked Fayt, starting to dance around and taunt her. "Oooh, look at me! I'm a goddess! I shall smite you! Behold my godlike powers! Look at me dance! I'm just a midg…"

"NIBELUNG VALESTI!" yelled Lenneth. An explosion encompassed half the cafeteria, sending Fayt sailing back to his friends.

"Heh, well, I guess we were wrong about her not being a goddess, then," said Cliff, bemused, and with his hair swept back from the impact of the explosion. Albel was impressed that Fayt was still laughing, even though he was on the ground and his clothes were all tattered.

"You're one of us now, fool. Don't screw it up."

For once in Fayt's life, he felt overjoyed. He had _friends_. "Thanks, guys," he said, almost with tears of joy in his eyes. "You've made my life worth living!" (awww)

* * *

The day went on, with Sophia bringing good news of her passing her E2 (Elicoorian style driving test ). So it was planned that she'd drive them all some place after school. Cliff and Albel wanted to go see the Nova Blazes, their main musical influence, since they were putting on a show at the Aquatic Gardens of Surferio. However, the girls hated metal, and Fayt listened to gino beats, so that was a no go. Nel suggested going for a run, which obviously didn't work out. In the end, it was decided that Sophia would drive them all over to Rigel's Bar and Grill in Peterny for dinner. Just so that Fayt could meet more people, Steeg, Marietta, and Lieber were invited too. When Maria found out that Lieber was going to tag along, she quickly said that she had a student council meeting after school, and spent the rest of the afternoon in her room playing World of Warcraft while listening to classical music. 

In all of Fayt's life, he had never remembered having so much fun before. Whereas he was a video game nerd back in Greeton, here, he was hanging out with friends on school nights. If only his parents could see him now!

The food at Rigel's was nothing short of amazing. Fayt had a steak straight from the grill, with a side order of fries. Sure, it was a simple meal, but never had such a simple meal tasted so good. Cliff, on the other hand, ordered a sizzling sirloin steak, a bowl of miso soup, two cheeseburgers, a breaded chicken breast, three boxes of potato wedges, and to top it all off, he treated them all to some nice discordant dessert. Since Cliff was now permitted to buy alcohol legally (18 years old in Elicoor II), they did just that. 100 bottles of ice cold beer were delivered right to their table.

"Say, Fayt, you say you come from Greeton?" Steeg asked. "Is it true that there's a ritual where you must place a fern in the middle of a room, run around it seven times naked with a Scale Bunny, light your clothes on fire, bathe in a barrel of Sooties, and videotape the whole process, and then send it to Mirage for scre…"

"Whoa whoa whoa, Steeg, who told you something like that?" Fayt asked, confused.

"Oh, well that would be Mirage."

Fayt looked over at Mirage. She had her feet on the table, and was downing beers like none other. He counted seven bottles on the table, and she had another in her hand. Fayt concluded that Mirage was quite wasted.

"Hey, wanna try some, buddy?" asked Cliff, holding a freshly opened bottle to Fayt. "It'll do you good…"

"Oh, that's okay, Cliff. You know, it's a school night, and I really shouldn't drink…"

"But you're not living with your parents anymore! Come on, have a little…" Cliff pushed on.

"I… oh, alright." Fayt took the bottle and began drinking. It left a bad aftertaste in his mouth, and he guessed it showed in his face. Fayt never had alcohol before.

"Heh, first time is always like that. Don't sweat it." Cliff seemed to be an expert at this. "Now, wait until you try some Whiskey… now there's a man's drink." As he said this, he downed a full forty of straight Vodka in less than 30 seconds. And what's more, he didn't even seem as if he was getting drunk at all!

* * *

The time passed quickly. Before Fayt knew it, it was already midnight. He looked around… 

Nel was all sweaty again, after her evening run. Fayt couldn't stop looking at her.

Lieber was ripping off branches from a nearby plant, and saying, "She loves me, she loves me not…"

Marietta and Sophia were passed out on each other's shoulders, presumably from the little alcohol they had.

Cliff was arm-wrestling with Steeg and Mirage at the same time. The competition was interrupted when Mirage finally got too drunk to tell her arm from her ass.

Albel was up on stage, jamming with the band at the bar. It was pretty funny, because the band usually played soft rock music, and Albel was up there, headbanging and shredding like a regular guitar virtuoso, making a scene. In the end, however, Rigel was impressed with Albel's crazy guitar playing, and promised them a discount each time they came, as long as Albel performed for her. The band consisted of the vivacious Rikku on bass guitar, the dazzling Yuna on vocals, the chick magnet Gippal on drums, and the very… odd Seymour on keyboards. Fayt recognized Rikku and Yuna; they both attended Kirlsa High. Wakka normally played lead guitar for the band, but he was temporarily occupied with a blazing hot woman with black hair and purple lipstick. So therefore, Albel was temporarily taking his place.

Fayt observed the whole scene, and realized that, these would be the best days of his life. And it was only his first day as a true teenager with friends. This was how life should be lived.

Not even the sight of Mirage passing out next to Cliff and falling into the fountain could change his mind.

Not even the fact that he later had diarrhea from the discordant dessert at the restaurant could change his mind.

Not even seeing Nel and Rikku emerge from one of the rooms in the bar, sweating profusely, could change his mind :D (no dirty thoughts, now…)

* * *

And to top it all off, Sophia rammed her car, by accident, of course, right into Azazer's house when they returned to Kirlsa that night. Azazer came out in a lacy nightgown and burst into tears of anger and grief at the sight of his wrecked front lawn, while Cliff and Albel burst into tears of laughter at the sight of this guy in a lacy nightgown. Before Fayt returned to the house, he got all of his newfound friends' e-mail addresses, making a mental note to add them to his MSN list as soon as he got to his room. 

"So, how did you like that first day? Action-packed enough for you?" asked Cliff.

Fayt simply smiled at him and nodded vigorously and Nel suddenly fell asleep on his shoulder. He looked at her happily, whispered, "Thanks for being my first friend," gave her a small kiss on the cheek, and approached the house, with Azazer mumbling mixed cuss words at him as he passed. Looking back for one last time before his first day ended, Fayt burst out laughing.

Cliff was counting the amount of alcohol everyone had. "Fayt had three beers, Sophia and Marietta each had two, Lieber had five, Steeg had twelve, Mirage had eight, Nel had a six, and Albel had twenty," he said, counting the people off with his fingers. "That means I had… forty-two beers! Holy shit!" Cliff could never have calculated that if he was sober. And with that, Cliff started breakdancing on the street, only stopping when Mirage stumbled by and held onto him for support.

Albel was slicing the grass on Azazer's front lawn with his katana, while laughing hysterically. He claimed that he was mowing the lawn. Twenty beers was a new record for Albel!

"See you fomorrow, Tayt!" yelled Mirage loudly, who looked as if she was having the time of her life clinging onto Cliff's left arm. She'd be pretty hungover tomorrow morning, Fayt thought to himself. "Okay, Ameena. Drive on home!" she shouted to Sophia.

"Yes ma'am! And my name's not Ameena! It's Dave!" yelled a drunken Sophia.

"Whoa, whoa, you are SO drunk, Ameena. Let moi drive," Steeg commanded, walking into a lamppost instead of the car.

Fayt watched from the front lawn as Steeg weaved the car to the left and right, and hit Azazer's mailbox. "Nice doggie!" he said, laughing like a hyena. If a cop saw them, he'd surely get pulled over. However, it seemed that they would make it home alive, and so Fayt went to bed, not noticing Azazer staring at him with a death glare.

"You'll pay…" he muttered, as Fayt trudged into the house.

* * *

So, how's that for a first chapter? I really have no clue if this is what's to be expected, but hey, rate and review. I promise there'll be more character development next chapter! This one was just introducing everyone  


	2. Code Red!

Hey, what's up people, here's a new chapter. You know, a few weeks ago, we had a Code Red drill at our school. Basically, what it is, is you have to have all the students line up along the wall and close all doors, so that if there's a psycho madman with a gun rampaging down the halls, all they'll see when passing by is an empty classroom. So that's what inspired this chapter  Of course, we'll see some more character development here.

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Ocean, or any of the characters. If I did, I'd be doing something with my life instead of writing fanfics.

**Chapter 2: Code Red**

"YOU. You had better explain yourself as to what happened last night!" demanded an angry Azazer.

Fayt looked at his clock, and he saw that it was 6:30 in the morning. Wonderful. Two hours before school started, and nature boy here was already giving him trouble. He got out of bed, rubbing his eyes. "Listen Azazer, I'm really sorry about the…" Azazer cut him off.

"Shut up! You will, from now on, abide by my rules. If not, then I will KICK YOU OUT OF MY HOUSE! Baahhaahahaahaaha…." Azazer delivered a swift punch to Fayt's face, which sent him falling to the ground. "I'm warning you. Next time you pull a stunt like this, you will pay dearly…"

Fayt got up as Azazer left the room. Sighing, he realized he had left his computer on all night. He looked at the monitor, and saw that someone had messaged him on MSN while he was sleeping.

**ZELPHER says:**

hey fayttt

**ZELPHER says:**

you there?

**ZELPHER says:**

fayt

**Last message received 6/28/2005 at 3:51 A.M.**

"Crap," Fayt muttered to himself. Now Nel would think that he was ignoring her. He wondered what she was doing up at 3:51 in the morning, but didn't think any more of it. He'd talk to her at school, simple as that. He trudged to the bathroom and brushed his teeth in front of the mirror, noticing a bruise coming up where Azazer had punched him. _"Damn… it's really noticeable…"_ Whoa! What's this! Fayt was actually caring about what he looked like. Could it be something to do with his new friends? More specifically, Nel?

Fayt returned to his room and turned on the television.

_"And, in other news, a convict from Airyglyph Prison has broken out, and is running free. Norton Konialian is wanted, dead or alive, and is possibly armed. Citizens are adv…"_ Fayt turned off the television, not really taking note of the escaped convict. He believed that it would have nothing to do with him, and was confident that the Airyglyph police would have this Norton behind bars soon enough. 

Suddenly, there was a knock at the front door. Fayt sprinted down the stairs, wondering who it could be. When he opened the door, he let out a gasp of surprise.

"Yo," said Cliff. Albel was with him as well.

"What are you guys doing here!"

"Walking with you to school. What the hell did you think, fool?" asked Albel.

Fayt hurriedly picked up his books, and felt, once again, that triumphant feeling he had last night when he had realized that he had the coolest friends, ever. He looked at Cliff, and wondered…

"I stayed the night at Nox's place, if you're wondering how I got down here so quick," Cliff grinned, and clapped Fayt on the shoulder. "Ready for another day in hell?"

"Hey, school's not that bad, I guess…" Fayt began.

"Wait 'til you come out with us this weekend. You'll never want to go back to school ever again." Cliff interrupted. "At any rate, let's just get this week over with."

* * *

As the three guys traveled across the Granah Hills on the way to Kirlsa High, they noticed a familiar person with red hair running towards the school. "Hey, who is that?" asked Fayt. 

"That's Nel. You didn't recognize her?"

"Whoa, she _runs_ to school!"

"Not only that, she lives in Aquios. That'd be about a 30-minute drive, it would. Nel normally wakes up at around four in the morning, so that she can get here on time."

"Dude, that's insane!" began Fayt, but then he remembered that Nel was up, talking to him at 3:51 in the morning. _"She didn't even get nine minutes of sleep last night. That's not insane. That's overkill!"_

"Look ahead of us, you spineless maggots!" Albel suddenly yelled. Standing in front of their way were a seemingly endless sea of Shreikers. "I hope you're up for fighting this morning," he said, as he drew his sword. "Here, you're lucky I carry a spare sword with me," said Albel, as he tossed a katana to Fayt. Unfortunately, Fayt had no fighting experience at all. He had spent his whole life playing video games.

"Man, I eat these things for breakfast," boasted Cliff, as he slipped on a gauntlet. "Watch and learn, Fayt."

Before Fayt could figure out what was going on, Albel and Cliff had slashed and pounded through the whole group of giant mushrooms without so much as a scratch on themselves. _"Wow, it's just like in those video games!"_ Fayt thought excitedly. Fayt lifted the katana Albel gave him, and quickly let it fall. He had no idea how heavy a sword would actually be in real life. Before Cliff or Albel could make fun of him, he pretended nothing had happened. He decided to wear the sword on his back. After all, this was the latest style in Gaitt. They entered the school, and since they had about 30 minutes before school began, they decided to head to the cafeteria.

* * *

Cliff dashed into the cafeteria doors, and saw Mirage sitting with Sophia at a table. He took a seat next to Mirage, and 'accidentally' dropped his Fol. He leaned down to get it, and in the process, rested his face on Mirage's breasts. Mirage blushed furiously and as soon as Cliff got back up, she slapped him lightly across the face. "Heh, whoops," he said. Sophia giggled. 

"Hey, Fayt, you look exhausted. Did you have breakfast this morning?" asked Mirage cheerfully, changing the subject. Evidently, she wasn't hungover.

"Oh, I'll be alright, Mirage. Thanks anyway."

"No, really, you won't make it through the day like this! Here, get yourself a cookie. My treat!" Mirage shoved 50 Fol into Fayt's hands and pointed him towards the cookies at the other end of the café.

While Fayt was buying himself a chocolate chip cookie, he heard a commotion outside. Everyone ran out to see what was going on.

* * *

"Don't tell me what I can and can't do, asshole!" a silvery haired girl was yelling at a ferocious looking guy with long hair. "I've had enough of this! I told you we'd go out as long as you kept yourself under control! How many times have you tried to get me to sleep with you! That's it, we're through! Stay the hell out of my life!" The silver-hair girl slapped the guy, started crying, and ran towards Fayt and Co. 

"Clair, what's wrong?" asked Sophia. "You're never like this! What's up?"

"It's Demetrio," a teary-eyed Clair sobbed. "He won't leave me alone. I broke up with him last week after he tried to get me drunk so I'd have sex with him. Now, he just won't stop following me! And just now, he was twisting my arm…"

At these words, Cliff let out a roar of rage and ran towards Demetrio. Effortlessly, he lifted him off the ground and slammed him into the floor. "That'll teach you not to bother a woman," he bellowed.

"You took my weed, asshat!" yelled Demetrio hoarsely, pointing at Cliff. However, Cliff merely raised his fist, and Demetrio pretended to go unconscious, cowering in fear. Cliff walked up to him, rummaged around the pocket of his leather jacket, and pulled out a small bag of something that looked suspiciously like weed.

"Heh, 103 – 94, for me. Well, that's over with," said Cliff, calmed down. "Are you alright, Clair?"

"I'm just fine, thank you. And who is this? I've never seen him before," Clair gestured towards Fayt.

"I'm Fayt Leingod. I just came to this school yesterday. Nice to meet you," he reached out his hand, which Clair shook.

"So, YOU'RE the new guy. I see… Nel has told me all…" she stopped mid-sentence. "Er, what I meant was, welcome to Kirlsa High! I'm Clair Lasbard."

"Yeah, you're in my Math class," Fayt said. Clair smiled at him.

"Well, it was nice meeting you," she said, as the bell went. "See you later today!"

* * *

_May I have your attention please, students. This is your principal Luther speaking. The next person who spreads rumors about me having an affair with my secretary, Blair, will receive 3 MONTHS OF DETENTION! DELETION! DETENTION! DELETION! DETENTION! DELE…_

Once again, no one paid attention to Luther's rambling. Everyone was rushing to get to their homeroom class.

When Fayt walked into his Chemistry classroom, the first thing he noticed was that Nel wasn't there. He waited another 10 minutes, but she didn't show up. He promptly got up and started to walk out of class.

"Excuse me, Mr. Leingod. Where do you think you're going?" asked a nettled Professor Adray.

"Sir, how many molecules are there in one mol of H2O?" asked Sophia, coming to the rescue.

"Er…" said Adray, scratching his head. Fayt took the opportunity, and ducked out of class.

"_Where the hell could she be? I saw her this morning…"_ Fayt was thinking to himself. He checked the school gym, which was being occupied by the tenth grade class. He saw a little guy with a tail attempting to do pushups, but failing miserably, because his helmet was too heavy. That gave Fayt a small chuckle. However, Nel was nowhere to be found on the track around the gym.

He then went to the cafeteria. One glance around the whole place told him that Nel wasn't there. He did, however, see Rikku and Yuna sitting at a table. He approached them, and asked if either one had seen Nel. Rikku spoke in a cheerful high-pitched voice, and it sounded as if she was on a sugar high or something…

"Oh, ooh! Nel Zelpher? You mean that girl that I…"

Yuna interrupted her by putting her hand over Rikku's mouth. "Sorry, we haven't seen Nel around today." She stared up at Fayt with her differently coloured eyes. "And you are?"

"I'm Fayt Leingod… I just transferred here from Greeton…"

"Oh. Well, I'm Yuna, and this here is Rikku. Nice to meet you!"

"Likewise. Uhh, anyway, I'm gonna have to go and find Nel now. It was cool talking to you guys…" Fayt wondered what Rikku was about to say, but decided not to ask. As soon as he left…

"Yunie! What was that for!" whined Rikku.

"Oh, I don't know, it seemed like a good idea at the time," she shrugged.

"Damn! We also forgot to tell him to give her back these daggers she left behind last night…"

* * *

Finally, Fayt decided to check the library. And lo and behold, there was Nel, fast asleep at one of the tables. Fayt sat down next to her, put his hand on one of hers, and whispered in her ear, "Nel?" 

At once, Nel woke up, startled. "Ah! Where am I? What- oh, it's just you, Fayt. Sorry, I kinda dozed off there…" Nel stopped when she noticed that Fayt had his hand on hers. A blush immediately crept up her face, and she turned around to hide it.

"Hey, Nel, you messaged me while I was sleeping last night! What was that all about?"

"Oh, I, uh, just wanted to talk…" she replied quietly. "Oh, my! Look at the time! We're supposed to be in chemistry class! Come on, Fayt," she frantically yelled, taking Fayt's hand and starting to leave the library. At that moment, however, a red light in the corner of the room started flashing.

"AAHHH! CODE RED! CODE RED!" yelled the librarian, Welch Vineyard. She was going nuts, and ended up jumping out the window, breaking the glass with her head, Simpsons-style.

Fayt and Nel stopped dead in their tracks. "Shit! I don't have my daggers with me!" cried Nel. She did a sort of frantic jig, looking around her for the only things that kept her safe.

"Don't worry Nel… I'll protect you..." Fayt said, without thinking. They were the only two left in the library now, and it was common knowledge that during a Code Red, everyone was to stand up against the wall, so that any madman who passed by the room would see an empty room. Fayt put his arm around Nel, who was so scared she didn't even notice. They backed up into the far wall of the library, hopefully where they wouldn't be seen. And they stood there for what felt like an eternity.

* * *

"AGH!" yelled Norton, as he kicked open the Math classroom door. He pointed his gun inside, but was too stupid to realize that everyone was standing against the wall. Thinking that it was an empty classroom, he moved to the next. There was no doubt about it. Norton was a psycho. He rampaged down the halls with his gun in the air, screaming his fool head off. 

"Whew, that was a close one!" said Maria. She, Mirage, Steeg, Marietta, and Lieber had Math first period. "I wonder how they're going to deal with this guy?"

Mirage simply looked down to the floor. She hoped, for the life of her, that her friends would be safe. Especially a certain unmentionable blonde boy, who shall remain unnamed, but shall henceforth be referred to as 'Cliff'. Um, oops.

"Hey, Mirage. Mirage? Hellooooo! Elicoor to Mirage!" Maria waved her hands in front of her friend, but to no avail. Suddenly, she saw Lieber walking towards her from the other end of the classroom, with that oh-so-familiar grin on his face. She sprinted out of the room before Professor Lezard could stop her.

* * *

"Hey Nox, how 'bout a smoke?" The sudden flashing of red lights and yells in the hall had pushed Cliff's nerves over the edge. Professor Adray was busy hunting the textbook for the amount of molecules in one mol, so he didn't notice Cliff and Albel talking. Albel tossed Cliff a cigarette, while getting one for himself. 

"You guys shouldn't smoke!" Sophia whispered, but did nothing else to stop them. She watched as Cliff lit a match and ignited his cigarette. A few drags later, Cliff was relaxed. The same went for Albel.

"Hmph. Those two fools aren't back yet…" said Albel. Cliff shrugged. It wasn't like Albel to worry about things like this. Yet, in his own heart he was concerned about Fayt as well. He knew that Nel could defend herself as long as she had her daggers, but Fayt hadn't shown that he had any battle experience before.

"They'll be fine," he said unconvincingly. Trying to change the subject, he said, "Worrying now, are we? Going soft aren't you, Nox…"

Albel gave him a scathing look and continued puffing away at his cigarette. "Die," he replied, without a hint of any emotion in his voice. Cliff merely shrugged and glanced over at Adray. He smiled to himself. After all these years, Adray had never caught the two smoking, yet they did it in his class all the time.

Outside the class, they thought they heard the sound of gunfire, and laughing. Hysterical laughing, that sent chills down everyone's spine. And without warning, the lights flickered out.

* * *

Back in the library, Fayt and Nel were so close to each other that the both of them were barely breathing. When the lights blacked out, Nel had dug her nails into Fayt's arm. While Fayt held Nel up to his chest, he hoped that Nel wouldn't notice his heart's beating. He thought that Nel would consider him weird if he told her that he had feelings for her after meeting her for one day. 

Nel, on the other hand, thought that Fayt was only holding her against him so that she'd be protected. She didn't even consider the thought that Fayt would actually have feelings for her, since he had only met her yesterday. But then again, she'd never felt this way in another guy's arms before. Maybe… BANG.

A loud gunshot brought them both out of their trances. They saw Norton careening through the hallway, and both pressed themselves as hard as they could into the wall.

Too late.

Norton spotted them, and charged into the library. "Aw, you guys ain't scared of me, are ya?" he asked, with just a tinge of holy-shit-insanity in his voice. Of course they were scared of him. He had no visible pupils, the lights weren't working, and he had escaped from the most highly guarded prison in all of Gaitt. He proceeded to tremble with crazed, maniacal laughter, and let his gun fire all over the place. Fayt and Nel both shuddered as bullets sprayed all over the four corners of the library.

"Hey! Ya guys better bow down to me riiiight now!" As Norton said the word "now", he shot his gun in the air again. "I am Lord Norton! I'll rule over this whole world!"

Fayt and Nel had no choice. This guy was insane, and if they followed his instructions, they'd have a better chance of surviving. They bowed down to Norton and looked up. Just when they thought they had lost all hope, a voice yelled "Aiming Device!"

Fayt looked up in time to see a heavy chandelier being shot down from the ceiling, and fatefully landing on Norton's head. Maria was standing at the door, with a photonic blaster in her hand.

"Are you guys alright?" she asked, looking down at them. "What the hell are you guys on your knees for? Get up! Excuse me while I contact the Glyphian Police Department. We've caught the escaped convict." Maria checked the halls suspiciously to make sure Lieber was nowhere to be seen, and made a mad dash to the office.

"Nel, are you okay?" asked Fayt. She nodded slowly, although she was still deathly pale.

"Fayt… thank you…" she said. Every word seemed to be costing Nel a lot of effort. She wasn't used to being so helpless and vulnerable. It was all too much for her. Without another sound, she ran off to the bathroom.

* * *

"_Well, that went well,"_ thought Fayt. He walked down the halls alone, since everyone else was still in their homeroom class. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a group of six dangerous looking guys stepped in front of Fayt. He recognized Demetrio, Schweimer, and Azazer. The other three looked just as hostile. 

"Listen, punk. We're gonna teach you a lesson. You're gonna stay the hell away from Nel," grunted Schweimer, "or you'll suffer the consequences. Berial, Belzeber, pin him down."

A tall black guy along with a very feminine guy walked towards him, and grabbed his arms. The other guy, whose name Fayt didn't know yet, kicked him in the face, bringing on a nosebleed. Still wincing in pain, Fayt couldn't do anything but be dragged to wherever Berial and Belzeber were taking him.

Along the way, the guy named Berial started talking to him in surprisingly eloquent language. "So, you think that you can just step into this school, and steal all our girlfriends? I'll have you know that this school was built by the Glyphians in 1345E. Originally, it was a training facility, but as the years passed, it turned into an execution place. Ever since King Arzei came into reign, however, this building has become a school, home to many young minds, eager to learn and have their brains fertilized with information. Did you know that?"

"I didn't!" said Belzeber. Fayt kept silent.

"Of course," Berial chuckled.

* * *

They arrived at the back of the school, and Fayt was slammed into the wall. He tried to struggle out of it, but he couldn't move his arms at all. 

"This is just a small taste of the hell you're gonna go through if you don't smarten up," Schweimer told him. Azazer walked up to Fayt, gave an incredibly evil laugh, and slugged him across the gut a few times.

"Hey, Vox, get a picture of this, man. I'll run off a few copies later on and post it all over the school. That'll embarrass him enough," said Demetrio. "I saw you talking to Clair, you bastard. You're dead." Demetrio whipped out a small knife and held it up to Fayt's throat as Vox snapped a picture. Even in a situation like this, Fayt could smell a mix of hard alcohol and weed on Demetrio's breath. He obviously had problems.

"Hey! What do you think you guys are doin' to my pal over here?" piped up a high-pitched voice. The kid that was struggling with pushups before was walking up to the scene, with an axe in his hand. "A real man's gotta stand up for others when they're in trouble. Get away from him."

"And what are you going to do about it, squirt?" asked Azazer. Before Azazer had finished the sentence, the kid had already started to charge towards him. The pointed end of his helmet collided with Azazer's kneecap, and he fell to the ground in pain. "Agh! Bastard!" yelled Azazer.

Vox was ready for him, or so he thought. He drew out a sword, but before he could do anything, the kid had tripped him with the handle of his axe. Vox's head slammed into a nearby metal trashcan, rending him completely useless for the next few minutes.

Belzeber took a flaming whip out, and aimed it at this little kid. However, he missed, and hit Berial in the face instead. Berial collapsed, and fell on top of Belzeber. Berial wasn't exactly the lightest person in the school. In fact, he was a little over 250, and all of it was muscle. Belzeber had no chance of getting up.

Demetrio and Schweimer watched, stunned. Fayt took the opportunity to withdraw his sword. He had had enough of being pushed around. A sudden rage took over him, and he had the strength to lift the sword just high enough to match their knees. He cut across both of the bigger guys' legs, and they gasped in pain and fell over. Fayt snatched up Vox's digital camera, took a picture of the scene, and pocketed it.

"Hey man, that was awesome!" yelled the kid with the helmet. "My name's Roger S. Huxley," he added, extending a short hand.

"Fayt Leingod. Thanks for helping me out there… I thought I was done for…" said Fayt.

"Aw, no problem, a real man would never leave another person to be tortured by assholes like those." He gestured towards the six delinquents, struggling to get up.

And with those final words, Fayt and Roger headed back to their classes.

* * *

"So you're telling me that you were ambushed by Demetrio and his thugs, and you survived!" asked Mirage in a disbelieving voice. It was lunch, and Fayt was telling her about everything that happened after he left the library. Of course, he left out all the details about what happened while he was IN the library. 

"Yeah. I would probably be Sootie food by now, if that little Tarzan hadn't helped me out, though," he said, pointing to Roger at the other end of the cafeteria. Mirage giggled.

"Roger, the 'real man'? Heh, he can be all right at times, when he's not busy flirting with every girl in sight. I think he asked out Peppita Rossetti, though. They seem a bit close…"

At the other end of the cafeteria, Roger was making out with Peppita.

"Hmmm, yeah, just a bit," said Fayt. He and Mirage looked at each other for a few seconds, and cracked up.

"Hey, what's up with you two?" asked Cliff, who had just arrived at their lunch table. "And Fayt, you look roughed up. What the hell happened?"

Fayt told Cliff the whole story about how he was ambushed in the halls. By the end, Cliff was fuming.

"Those bastards! Why would they pick on the new guy? I'm gonna go teach them a lesson…"

"Nah, it's cool. They're taken care of, thanks to Roger and me."

Just then, principal Luther burst into the cafeteria. He made a beeline straight for Cliff, whom he believed to be the one responsible for vandalizing school property. Of course, it was Albel, but Cliff wasn't about to admit that. He grabbed Cliff by the collar and began rambling.

"I've got you now, Fittir. First, we'll call the school board, and let them know who the _delinquent_ who has been ruining our walls is…"

"Sir, no need to get violent here," Cliff replied calmly, but deliberately VERY loudly. "You're wrinkling my shirt, as well." By now, everyone was watching in amusement.

"Nothing to see here! Continue eating your lunches!" announced Luther to the rest of the cafeteria. "Will you shut up!" hissed Luther, as he began to shake Cliff.

"Hey, stop that! You're hurting me!" mocked Cliff. All around, people began laughing.

"I said… SHUT - UP!" yelled Luther, now losing control.

"Come see the violence inherent in the system!" shouted Cliff, who could barely keep himself from laughing. "Help, help, I'm being repressed!"

* * *

The second day of school was now over. Fayt knew he couldn't go back to Azazer's now, so he approached Cliff. 

"Say, Cliff, I can't go back to Azazer's house now, so would it be okay if I moved in with you?"

"Heh, no sweat, kid. As long as you don't steal any of my whiskey, I'm cool with it. Oh, but I'm stayin' over at Nox's for the rest of the week. I'm sure you'd be welcome too."

"Albel's?" Fayt knew that Albel lived in a mansion in Kirlsa during the school year. Hell, he could usually see it from his room. "Wow, now that's class. Alright, it's settled then! Should I get permission from Albel first?"

"Nah, most people are free to stay there whenever they want. In fact, the gang is gonna be rounding up there this afternoon. We're gonna go for a swim, drink a bit, probably have dinner at the Dragoon Café…"

So Fayt returned to Azazer's (after making sure he wasn't home, of course), picked up his stuff, and practically flew over to Albel's.

Maria sprinted into the main hall of Woltar's mansion. She seemed to have some good news of some sort.

"Holy shit, guys! I never believed it would work, but it worked! Hahahah! Starting next week, school will only take place FOUR DAYS A WEEK! Yes, you may kiss my foot," she said jokingly, as Cliff and Fayt got down on their knees and pretended to worship her.

Albel watched them with a forced grin for a minute or two, and went, sulking, into his room. "Fools," he muttered.

* * *

Albel put on the new _Nova Blazes_ album in his stereo, opened up his drawer, and took out a bottle of vodka. "Shit," he grunted to himself, as he opened it up. Although Albel was sociable, there were many times when he'd simply go off alone, drinking, and not be seen for the rest of the night. He was thinking to himself. Every single night for the past month, he realized that he couldn't focus on anything at all. But it wasn't this that was angering him. It was the fact that the reason he couldn't focus was… _Maria_. 

He couldn't understand why. He rarely ever talked to Maria Traydor, yet all of a sudden, he couldn't stop thinking about her. It seemed odd, but after all, they were part of the same group of friends. He brushed his long mane of hair back, and started drinking away at his vodka. Maybe it was because she was the only one with a personality somewhat similar to him… All the other girls annoyed him with their overly feminine personalities. Maria, on the other hand…

At that moment, Albel's door opened. He heard Cliff downstairs, singing happy birthday at the top of his lungs. _"He must be wasted already. No one's birthday is today,"_ thought Albel. At first, Albel guessed that the he hadn't closed the door all the way, and that it was pushed opened on its own. However, when he turned around, he saw Maria standing there.

"Hey Albel. You look pretty down… wanna talk?" she asked.

"Hmph," was his response. The last person he wanted to see now was her. However, Maria his response as a yes, and sat down next to him.

"So, what's eating you?" she asked very carefully. Albel was known to have a terrible temper.

"Mind your own business," he snapped, spilling vodka all down his shirt. "Can't you see that I want to be alone?"

"Albel! I'm just trying to make you feel better," Maria exclaimed, offended. "It's better to talk things over with…"

"I said, leave me alone!" Albel growled. "I don't need anyone's help or pity right now, I just want to be LEFT ALONE, you idiot! Is that too difficult a concept for you to grasp!"

"I see." Maria was hurt by these cold words. "Well, if you're going to be an arrogant prick about it, then maybe I should just leave." Maria headed towards the door, but before she exited, she looked at Albel. "You know, you're really cool when you drop the badass attitude. You actually seem like a normal human being then. But as soon as you get like this, no one can stand you. Grow up."

As soon as Maria walked out of the room and was out of earshot, Albel pounded his fist into the wall. He was so confused.

* * *

And that ends chapter 2. I was going to keep typing, but it was getting a bit on the long side  Rate and review! Comments? Death threats? Albel and Maria! Like, whaaaaaaaaaaaat! 


	3. Crushed

Another chapter for you guys! There's gonna be a bit of fighting in this one, because, let's admit it, there's always fights in high school drama. Enjoy.

**Chapter 3: Crushed**

"Hey, you guys, let's go eat dinner now. I'm starved!" Maria walked down the staircase of Woltar's mansion, and was surprised to see that Cliff was sober. "Hey, I thought you were wasted, what with you singing happy birthday and all…"

"Oh, that. Fayt and I here were having a contest to see who could sing the more familiar song. I won, obviously," bragged Cliff. "He sang all of 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star', but unfortunately, Sophia somehow never heard that one before."

Maria looked over at Sophia, who shook her head vigorously. "Well, congratulations, Cliff, but can we please get going? I haven't had a bite to eat in hours!"

"Alright, alright, hold your horses. What do you guys wanna do tonight?"

Fayt had no preferences. Sophia and Maria wanted to eat, and then go skiing on the Traum Mountains. Mirage said she was fine with anything Cliff chose to do. Unfortunately, Cliff suggested they all go to a strip club, resulting in a slap from Mirage.

"Well, Fayt, how about some input from you?" asked Cliff, his face still stinging from Mirage's slap. "You must have done some crazy things back in Greeton, so what will it be?"

"Uh, well, to tell you the truth…" Fayt spent all his free time back in Greeton at home, playing video games. "How about bowling?" he asked.

"Hey, that's a great idea!" Maria exclaimed. "When's the last time we've gone bowling? It's been forever!"

"That's because Cliff got drunk the last time, and mistook me for the bowling ball!" whined Sophia. "I'll never be the same after that experience…"

* * *

_"Cliff! You're up, idiot!" said Albel, who was pretty smashed himself. Cliff staggered his way over to the bowling ball stand, and, instead of grabbing a ball, grabbed Sophia's chest._

_"__Hey! Perv!" she yelled. But before she knew what was going on, Cliff had her off the ground, and slid her across the bowling alley. "AHHHHHHHH!" To everyone's surprise, Sophia slid perfectly down the middle, and knocked down all the pins with her outstretched arms._

_"__Hey, look at that, Cliff got his first strike," said Nel, clearly amused by the way things were turning out._

_"__I… hate… you…" Sophia whimpered at Cliff, from the other end of the bowling alley. Everyone burst out into laughter, even Albel. And as humiliated as Sophia was, she joined in…

* * *

_

"Ha ha ha, good times," chuckled Cliff.

"Oh, shut up!" whined Sophia. "Don't you remember how embarrassed I was?"

"Alright then, no alcohol this time, got it?" commanded Maria.

"Yeah, yeah, sure, whatever. No alcohol, I promise." Cliff put his hand over his chest, to show that he wasn't joking around.

"Then let's go! Hey, wait…" Fayt looked around. "Where's Albel? And… Nel?"

Maria frowned. "Albel's not feeling too well. He won't be coming out with us today. As for Nel, I guarantee you that she's out running. No need to worry, I'll call her up later."

"Alright…" Fayt said, worried that he wouldn't be able to see Nel tonight.

"To Mackwell's Alley!" shouted Cliff, with his fist in the air.

* * *

Mackwell's Alley was a hangout for many teens, and it was located in the red light district of Peterny. There was always something rough going on there, and it wasn't exactly located near anywhere else, so when trouble arose, one would usually have to fend for them self. Fortunately, Cliff and co. had never had any problems here previously. 

"Hi! Welcome to Mackwell's Alley. How many pairs of bowling shoes will you need today?" asked a ditzy girl at the counter. Her nametag read 'Eliza'. Cliff did a short head count.

"Uh, we've got… four people here, as well as me, and Nel later on, so… that makes…"

"Six, Cliff. Six pairs of shoes, please. Size seven for me." Maria grinned. Cliff wasn't exactly the brightest guy in the world. In fact, she could probably conclude that Cliff was as dumb as a brick, until he got drunk. When that happens, he becomes a rocket scientist.

"Man, it's been forever since I've been here," Mirage reminisced. "I'm still gonna beat you this time, Cliff!" she teased in a playful tone.

"Not a chance, sis. I'm stayin' sober this time."

Fayt wondered how things would unfold. He had truthfully never been bowling before in his life, and had just heard about it from people he used to go to school with. In fact, he had never even seen a bowling alley until now.

"Fayt must be a champ at stuff like this," Cliff assumed. "It's common knowledge that all Greeton engineers are bowling fiends. Come on buddy, let's see a perfect 300!"

Fayt gulped and nodded with a smile. "Which mentally deficient anal discharge told you that?"

Cliff laughed out loud. "Learnin' how to talk like us now, are you? Attaboy!" He messed up Fayt's hair with his hand.

* * *

Outside the parking lot, a silver Porsche, bearing the license plate _SCHWEIMD_, and a Ferrari with the plate _SPHERE JR _parked on both sides of Sophia's car. The doors opened, releasing a heavy smell of smoke and alcohol. Seven boys got out of the cars, each with a metal baseball bat in their hands. The drawling voice of Demetrio commanded them to get ready. 

"Alright, boys. It's the moment we've been waiting for. Let's do this."

In less than ten minutes, Sophia's Nissan Maxima was decimated.

"It ain't over yet," said Schweimer, through a mouthful of cigarette smoke. "They're in there. It's show time, boys."

"Fuck around with the best, eat shit like the rest." Demetrio announced their little 'group's' motto. The seven boys raised their half empty whiskey bottles into the air, gave a toast, and headed towards the entrance of Mackwell's Alley.

* * *

_Enter your name please_. 

"Man, I never understood what they expect us to achieve by giving us three-letter slots for our names. How many names in the world have three letters?" complained Cliff. "Here, move over, Sophia. I'm gonna name myself ASS."

As Cliff typed the name out onto the computer, the word 'ASS' took the top name slot on the screen. Fayt named himself FAT, Sophia was YOU, Maria named herself SEX, and Mirage typed in a simple 'MIR'. "Alright, let the games begin!" said Sophia, excitedly.

Fayt seemed to be doing better than he ever could have imagined. It was the end of the first round, and Fayt beat everyone, with a fantastic score of 243. Sophia, unfortunately, came in last place with a measly 7.

"Heh, like I said, engineers from Greeton," said Cliff, as he clapped Fayt on the shoulder. "It's no perfect game, but you sure as hell beat me."

Cliff personally scored 141. Mirage had 178, coming in second. Maria scored 69, which suited her bowling name perfectly.

"Might as well call Nel now." Maria scrambled for her cell phone, but couldn't find it. "Shit! I can't find my cell…"

"Maybe you left it in the car?"

"Did you check the bathroom?"

"I bet you forgot it at Albel's!"

"You tossed it into the bowling alley on that last round! Ahh!"

"Looking for something, _dearie_?"

Maria spun around at the last comment. She came face-to-face with Demetrio and his cronies. Demetrio had Maria's cell phone in his hand. "What the hell do you guys want?" she sighed. "And who is that?" Maria gestured towards an unfamiliar face.

"This here is Solon. Mr. Solute, if you're nasty. He's the cousin of Azazer, and that means he automatically has a score to settle with you assclowns. Let me tell you, he's not happy after seeing what you guys did to his cousin's house. You'd better watch yourself, because this guy is deadlier than all six of us put together."

"Well, that's quite an achievement," Cliff said sarcastically. "Tell me, are you guys ever going to leave us alone? I mean, no offense or anything, but in the past 24 hours, you've had your ass handed to you on a silver platter twice by…" Cliff didn't even get to finish his sentence. Solon had rushed right in front of him and sent him flying with an uppercut. Ten meters away, Cliff couldn't even get up. Solon grinned triumphantly.

"Cliff! Are you all right?" Mirage sprinted to Cliff's side, and found that he was unconscious.

"What gives you the right!" screeched Sophia. "What the hell is your problem! You guys never think of anyone but yourselves, and on top of that, you think violence is the answer to everything!" She began to cast a healing spell on Cliff, but Demetrio simply shoved her into a nearby trashcan. Since she was there already, Schweimer went all the way and stuffed her inside it.

"Maria! Call the police! These guys mean business!" yelled Fayt. He had left his sword at Albel's house, and knew that he'd have to fight with his bare hands if the need came up.

Back at the counter, Eliza thought they were playing some sort of a game. "Oh wow! A tournament! I'm rooting for the hot guy! GOOOO HOT GUY!" Since the employees at the alley had no problem with it, neither did the rest of the people there. They continued bowling as if this fight was merely a squabble over whose name would go first on the bowling screen. Fights at Mackwell's were a common occurrence anyway. Fayt shook his head.

_"Okay, so I can see that everyone else won't be of any help… I hope Maria can get to the phone on the counter ASAP…"

* * *

_

"Albel? Where did everyone go?" asked Nel. She was sweating all over again, and had run all the way from Kirlsa High to Aquios, all the way back to Woltar's mansion in Kirlsa.

"Hmph. How the hell should I know?" Albel continued drinking his vodka. He had almost consumed the whole 1.5 L bottle now.

"Well, if you find out where they went, let me know, 'kay?" And as she said those words, she left Albel's room and entered his swimming pool.

All of a sudden, the phone rang. Albel lazily waited for it to ring for the fourth time before picking it up. "What?" he simply asked.

"Albel! Thank God you're there! We need you over here at Mackwell's Alley! We've called the police already, but we don't know how long they'll take to get here!" So, it was Maria. Funny. Hadn't she told him to grow up a few hours ago?

"What's the problem?" Albel was taking his sweet time, thinking that Cliff probably got piss drunk, and they needed his help to manage him.

"Albel! This is serious! Please! Hurry! We can't hold them off for… AHH!"

"Maria? Maria! MARIA! Speak to me! Shit!"

Albel jumped on his motorcycle and sped out of Kirlsa immediately, before Nel even had the chance to follow him. Did she say _Mackwell's_? "It's been too long," he muttered.

* * *

Fayt fell to the ground. His face was cut all over from the punches and kicks that he was taking. Berial had violently grabbed Maria while she was talking on the phone, and locked her in the storage room, but not before taking her guns. By the time Eliza realized that this was serious, it was too late. Schweimer had tackled her into a wall, bound her to a chair, and stuffed her in a closet. Everyone else was fleeing for their lives. 

Fayt was taking the worst beating of his life. His mind wasn't working properly, and he could barely defend himself anymore. He had taken down Vox by punching him as hard as he could in the Adam's apple, but then, when Demetrio started fighting him, Fayt was overpowered. _"Nel, I've gotta tell you something…"_ whispered Fayt, as Demetrio whipped a bowling ball towards him. It hit him square in the chest before he could muster the energy to evade it, winding him completely. He didn't know how much more of this he could take, and his mind was hazing over. The last thing he saw was a vision of a red haired girl, beckoning towards him. Whether Nel was really there or not, Fayt never did know. He passed out a few seconds later.

Mirage had her hands (and feet) full, taking on Belzeber and Azazer at the same time. Solon was lazily sitting on the side, watching his cousin and his queer friend try and take down this girl.

"You guys… please… stop… fighting's not the answer…" panted Mirage. She was quickly being depleted of her strength, and knew that she wouldn't be able to last much longer.

"Oh, what's wrong? You don't want to play anymore? Hmmmhhhmhmmhmh?" giggled Belzeber.

"_Shit, this guy is SO gay,"_ Mirage thought to herself. With a final ounce of strength, she jumped high in the air, screamed out, "AERIAL ASSAULT!" and her foot landed right on Belzeber's head. He collapsed with an odd sort of cry, but it didn't matter. Azazer had hit her across the legs with a baseball bat. Mirage screamed and tripped, only to see Azazer jump on top of her and start punching her left and right. "He…lp… anyone… Albel… Nel… _Cliff_…" Mirage's last words faded away before she went unconscious.

* * *

"Okay son, walk in a straight line towards me while counting to one hundred, by 5s," officer Dejison demanded of Albel. 

"GODDAMMIT! I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS SHIT!"

"Ho ho ho! Well, you should have thought about that before you went drinking and driving, hotshot. Now, do as I say, and we'll get this done faster."

"Shouldn't you dumbshit police officers be at Mackwell's by now? There's a huge fight going on there, and my friends are getting killed!"

"We've got more important things to do than investigating petty fights such as those. As for the case at Mackwell's, we've regarded it as a prank call. In fact, an employee was in the background, telling the caller to get off the phone so that she could talk to her boyfriend. Also, it's more important that we get drivers like _you_ off the road. Now, do what I say."

"Argh! What the hell do you want!"

"The alphabet, backwards. Now!"

"Z, Y, X, W, V, U, T, S, R, P… piece of shit!"

Dejison was enjoying this. "Sir, breathe into this breathalyzer, please."

"And if I refuse?"

"Then I haul your ass in."

Albel roared in frustration, and took a breath.

"Hmm, just as I thought," Dejison said, as he started writing up a ticket. "Albel… Nox… drunk driving… license plate number, yep… extra notes? Terrible manners…"

Albel didn't have the patience to wait any longer. He jumped on his motorcycle and sped off towards Mackwell's, with officer Dejison shaking his head and copying down his license plate number.

* * *

"This water's really nice. Yup. Soooo nice. Don't you think it's nice? Yeah, it's really nice." Nel was talking to herself. No one else was around, so Nel had taken the liberty of jumping into the pool naked. It felt so much more refreshing than having a tight bathing suit wrapped around her body. 

While she leaned against the side of the pool, she thought about the first thing that came to her mind. Fayt.

_"How is this possible? Hundreds of guys try to get in my pants every year, and I brush them off as if they were nothing. Then, I meet a guy who has no friends, and no signs of sexual attraction to me whatsoever, and I begin to like him! Minds sure work in weird ways…"_

Deep in thought, Nel hadn't noticed that Roger was spying on her through the bushes.

"Score!" yelled Roger, as he took a picture, startling Nel out of her thoughts. "Wait 'til this gets on the net!"

"Roger! You little bastard, come back here! Wait 'til I get my hands on you!" she screamed, as she rushed out of the pool to chase him. She quickly retreated, as soon as she noticed that she was still naked. Realizing that Roger had taken her clothes, she shook her fist at the Menodix, who was sprinting out of Kirlsa at the speed of light.

Albel skidded to a stop right in front of the door to Mackwell's. There wasn't a single car in the parking lot, other than Sophia's, which was brutally vandalized to nothing more than a junk heap, and… _Schweimer's and Belzeber's_. "Those bastards! This is serious after all…"

* * *

As soon as Albel walked into the main bowling alley, gunshots were fired at him from Berial. He dodged them all with ease, but was caught off guard by Demetrio tackling him from the side. Albel took out his katana in less than a second, and sliced upwards, not caring whether his sword came into contact with air or human flesh. It turned out that he had sliced Demetrio across the abdomen; he gave a gasp of pain and fell to the ground, unable to get up. Kicking him to the side, Albel began to observe the scene around him… 

Cliff was unconscious! Who could have brought him down? He looked to the left, and saw Fayt lying there, bleeding from at least ten cuts on his face. Maria and Sophia were nowhere to be found.

Looking straight ahead, he saw that Mirage was being stripped by Azazer. He was going to rape her!

A hatred so powerful rose inside of Albel. He furiously sprinted over to them and lifted Azazer off the ground with an upward slash using all his might. "DOUBLE SLASH!" he screamed, as he brought Azazer back to the ground with a painful downward swipe. _"Screw this! You're dead meat, maggot!"_ Albel tossed his katana aside, grabbed Azazer by the head, and sunk his fist straight into Azazer's gut. He let out a cry of anguish, as Albel pounded his face in repeatedly with his punches. With a final howl of fury, Albel slammed his fist into Azazer's stomach, releasing three years of hatred he had for him, yelling "PALM OF DESTRUCTION!" Azazer was sent flying to the other end of the bowling alley, immediately knocked unconscious. Albel stepped on Azazer's fallen glasses, breaking them into tiny pieces.

"Hmm. A worthy opponent," Solon thought. He was impressed with Albel's abilities, so he stood up and made his way towards him.

"I don't care who you are, and I'm warning you, maggot, if you get in my way, I WILL cut you down!"

"Hm. I'd like to see you try," taunted Solon. That lit Albel's fuse. He charged straight at Solon, brandishing his katana.

It happened in a flash; Solon had parried Albel's slash, grabbed him by the shoulder, which stunned him, locked both of his fists together, and slammed them against Albel's back. Albel let out a hoarse cry of agony as he was fell to the ground. It felt as if his back had been broken. Jeers and yells of delight could be heard from Schweimer and Berial.

"_How could anyone react so quickly? Damn it!"_ Albel could hardly believe what was happening. He had charged at this stranger with all his might, yet he had been dodged, AND countered in less than a second. Well, the police wouldn't be coming anytime soon. It looked as if Albel would have to tough this one out himself…

* * *

Roger walked up to the circus trailer park, stationed in the central square of Peterny at the moment. "Hey, Ursus, where's Peppita?" he asked the giant innocently. While Ursus went in to find Peppita, Roger checked out the newest picture on his camera. He burst into tears of laughter, while hissing, "Perfect! 10/10!" The expression on Nel's face was priceless, and the fact that she was naked added to the score as well. 

"Hey Roger, what is it?" Peppita walked out of the trailer. It seemed as if she had just taken a shower, since her hair was let straight down, rather than tied upwards like it usually was.

"Hey! Let's do something tonight!"

"Wow, you're… Hey! You know what, I've never been to the red light district of this town, even though I've been to Peterny so many times now," Peppita said. "Care to take a walk down there?"

"Hah! No problem! Those druggie types that hang out there don't scare me! Let's go…"

And with that, Peppita linked arms with Roger, as they headed to the east side of Peterny.

* * *

"I'm going to kill that kid!" Nel got dressed as quickly as she could into Albel's clothes, since Roger ran off with hers. They were a bit baggy on her, and she could smell weed on them, but it wasn't like she was going to be wearing these clothes forever. She walked into Woltar's office. 

"Hi, Mr. Woltar!"

"Nel, child, what is it?"

"Um, you wouldn't have seen Albel and the group anywhere, would you?"

"Hmph. I saw Albel speeding off on that motorbike of his, out the east side of Kirlsa. I'll assume he's headed for Peterny, since that's where all you young whippersnappers like to 'hang out' these days…"

"Oh, okay. Thanks!" Nel winked as she ran out of the mansion.

She had done enough running for today, so she waited at the Kirlsa Bus stop. Looking at her watch, she saw that it was 8:13 PM. It'd be another fifteen minutes before the bus arrived, so she sat down and took out her notebook. Instead of studying, like she usually did, she drew an amazingly realistic picture of Fayt holding a watermelon. Why? The world will never know.

"All right! The bus is here!" Nel casually strode onto the bus, took one look around, and nervously sat down near the front. It wouldn't be the first time a guy on the bus tried to hit on her…

* * *

"Is this the height of your abilities? Pathetic!" Solon was parrying Albel's punches as quickly as they came, since he had thrown his katana aside in rage. Without warning, he grabbed the young Glyphian's neck, and raised him off the floor. Albel couldn't breathe… 

"_I won't lose… NOT TO THE LIKES OF YOU!"_ Albel let out a wild cry, but unfortunately, his windpipe was being crushed with brutal strength. He saw the world fade around him, and knew no more.

* * *

"WOW! A Ferrari! A real life Ferrari! Like, Roger, take a picture of me next to it!" Peppita stood and posed next to the Ferrari, like some _The Price Is Right_ showgirl. Neither one paid any attention to Sophia's wreck. They didn't recognize it. As Roger snapped a picture, he read the license plate. 

"Sphere Jr.? Hmm… that's… Belzeber's? That flaming homosexual guy at our school?"

"Roger, what's up?"

Roger grinned. "Peppita, _darling_, it's time for revenge!" Roger withdrew his axe, and strutted towards the expensive car. With Peppita sitting on the hood of the car, watching in amusement, Roger swiftly slashed all four tires.

* * *

"Hey, Solon, our work here is done," said Schweimer proudly. "Thanks man, we couldn't have done it without you." 

"No problem. Anytime these clowns give you trouble, give me a call," he gruffly said. Taking one last look at the chaos they had caused that night, Solon, Schweimer, and Berial went around, retrieving their friends' unconscious bodies. "They'll be okay," Berial told them. "They've gone through worse than this. This is nothing compared to the massacre of 715E. Let me tell you guys all about it..."

And with that, the three boys walked out of the bowling alley, their unconscious friends on their backs, with Berial talking about the flashing blades and heavy axes of the said battle.

* * *

Roger and Peppita duked it out at the arcade in Mackwell's Alley. They were playing air hockey, and Roger was purposely letting Peppita win. Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw Berial and Schweimer walking out of the building, with some other guy. 

"Hey, Peppy, I'm gonna go check out the vending machines. Be right back!" Roger stepped out of the arcade, planning to follow them, but realized that it was… too quiet. A bowling alley would never be this quiet. He also saw Maria's cell phone on the ground. Something was up. "Peppita, come with me!" he yelled.

As they approached the alley, they passed the storage room. All of a sudden, they heard a familiar voice yell "HELP!"

"Roger, are you okay?" Roger had overreacted to the startling plea for help, and fallen down. Together, Roger and Peppita smashed open the door, to find Maria, with her arms badly bruised.

"Maria! What happened?" Peppita asked frantically. "Your arms are all bruised! Are you okay? Oh, and by the way, we found your cell phone on the ground."

"I'm fine, Peppita, thanks," Maria replied, taking her cell phone. "But I'm not so sure our friends are… check out the bowling alley!" The three of them entered, and were shocked and appalled at what they saw.

* * *

"WHAT THE HELL IS THE MEANING OF THIS!" shrieked Schweimer. His Porsche and Belzeber's Ferrari were both reduced to nothing more than a pile of scrap metal. The culprit did a clean job; even the engines were completely beaten to a pulp. "Someone's gonna pay!" 

Talk about bad timing! Nel heard someone shouting, and came over to see what was going on. As soon as Schweimer spotted her, he chased after her in rage. Nel, having no idea what was going on, was tackled to the ground. Solon and Berial held her still as Schweimer bound and gagged her with duct tape. Putting his face right up to Nel's, he threatened her. When he spoke, his voice was menacing and devoid of sanity. "You'd better hope your pansy friends come and fess up soon. Or else _you'll_ pay the price."

* * *

"Albel!" cried Maria, as she ran straight to his unconscious, and maybe… _dead_ body? All that was going through her mind was that, if he was dead, then the last thing she said to him would haunt her for the rest of her life. _"No… he's not dead… he can't be…"_ Maria started sobbing, and took Albel's hand in hers. "I'm sorry, Albel," she whispered. "I never meant any of those harsh words I said to you earlier today… _sorry…_" What was this feeling? Was it guilt for being harsh on Albel before? Or was it something more? 

"Maria, this is no time to emote! Let's get them all to a hospital, and quick!" Roger went to the phone and dialed for an ambulance. If only the police had helped out, he thought. He held Peppita close to him, and for once, his voice was serious. And when Roger thinks it's serious, then oh boy, it is SERIOUS.

* * *

_Nel walked up to Fayt. He noticed that there were tears in her eyes. When she spoke, her voice seemed so far away… "Fayt! Are you alright? Can you hear me?"_

_Fayt nodded. "Nel, I have something to tell you…" Fayt looked around nervously. He wasn't sure of this, but if he was going to die soon, he might as well spill it. "Nel…"_

_"Hm?" Nel leaned in closer, her face almost touching Fayt's now. Her tears trickled down her cheeks, onto his._

_"Nel… I think I… I KNOW I…" Fayt stopped and winced in extreme pain. His injuries made every word cost a gigantic amount of effort to say._

_"Save your strength, Fayt…" Nel put a hand on Fayt's face. She slowly leaned in until their lips were barely an inch apart. As if some outer force was controlling Fayt, he pulled Nel into a passionate kiss. There was no hesitation; Nel put her arms around Fayt and deepened the kiss._

_"YO!"

* * *

_

"YO!"

Fayt woke suddenly, and found himself lying in a bed. It wasn't a hospital, no. It was more like a luxurious room in a mansion…

"You alright, kid?" asked Cliff, from the bed next to him. Fayt looked around. That dream… it seemed so real. If only Cliff could have kept his mouth shut for a few more seconds…

"Where's Nel?" he automatically asked.

"Uh, Elicoor to Fayt!" Cliff snapped his fingers. "Nel wasn't with us when we were bowling. We got pounded bad by those assholes…" Cliff slammed his fist into his other palm. "Man, I wanna get them back…"

"Yeah… those… assholes! What did they attack us for!"

"Hell if I know. Probably for revenge from what you and Roger did to them yesterday morning. And for the house incident with Assasser."

"Yeah, I guess… wait, yesterday morning? You mean I was out for the whole night?"

"Pretty much, buddy. No point worrying about it, though." Cliff put his arms behind his head and leaned back in his bed. "We get to miss school, so it's all good. We're in the Arias mansion, in case you were wondering."

"Who else is here?"

"Well, Mirage is in the other room, sleeping. Sophia was alright, so she went to school today. Maria decided to take the day off. Roger and Peppita are here too… they probably skipped so that they could be with us. Nox, on the other hand…" Cliff scratched his head, and trailed off before finishing his sentence.

"What? What happened to Albel?"

"Well, I hate to be the one to tell you the bad news, but… the doctors think he slipped into a coma…" Cliff looked darkly at the ceiling. "They don't know if he'll make it out."

Fayt felt bile rising up in his throat. One of his best friends might die! He frantically tried to get out of bed, but was too tired to.

"Easy there, buddy. Nothing we can do about it now."

"But!" He couldn't help it. He started trembling and tried to climb out of bed, but to no avail.

Cliff simply buried his face in his hands. He hadn't felt so helpless in Apris knows how long. "Fayt, comas are iffy things… He could slip out of it any minute…"

Maria walked in suddenly. "Hey Fayt," she said quietly. "Feeling better?." There was something in Maria's eyes that told him she was suffering greatly. For some reason, seeing her standing there calmed him down.

"Yeah, I'm feeling better now, I guess," he said, in a shaky voice, recovering from his recent panic attack. "How are your arms?"

"Oh, I'm okay. No need to worry about me…" Maria stopped mid-sentence. Her cell phone was ringing. Picking it up curiously, she answered, "Hello?"

_"Why, hello there, __dearie,"_ snarled a voice.

Maria's face automatically curved into a scowl. "Demetrio! You assholes! What do you guys want?"

_"Tch, tch, tch… you'll need better manners than that if you want to see your red-headed friend again…"_ Demetrio stopped talking for a second, thinking. _"Tell you what. Let's make a deal."_

Fayt and Cliff were staring at Maria, whose face had blanched. "What's up?" they both said at the same time.

Maria held up a hand to silence them. "Okay, how do we know you're not just screwing around with us?" she asked as calmly as she could.

_"Well, if that's how you feel about the situation, I guess we'll call it off then. Bye…"_

"No! Wait!"

_"I knew you'd see it our way. Now, we want ALL of you at Duggus Forest tonight at 7:00. We'd like to give you a little… 'thank you' for the gift you left us in the parking lot last night. Bring Clair Lasbard. If you come and meet our requirements, then, we can give you your precious Nel back. Oh, and you can exclude your comatose friend. We don't think he'll be feeling better by tonight."_ Demetrio cackled with laughter, and hung up. Maria couldn't take it anymore! She took her phone and whipped it across the room. "SHIT!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.

"Maria, calm down! What happened?" asked Fayt.

Maria turned around and looked at both her friends. "They have Nel," she said dryly.

Fayt blinked. His insides were melting. "Nel…"

* * *

And thus ends chapter 3. Will Nel be all right? Will Albel slip out of his coma? And what of Azazer's powerful cousin, Solon? Yeah, so this chapter doesn't really have much to do with school, but I'll get back on topic soon. Rate and review! 


	4. Visions In The Night

Thank you for the kind reviews! Keeps me encouraged, you know, so if you like the story, write a short review (or a long one, like zblazer's). Praise will only lead to more updates, my friends ;)

Oh man, I completely rushed this chapter and had it done in an hour and a bit, so I could submit it before the end of Monday. But it's only because I'll be out for most of next week, and won't have a chance to write anything. Nevertheless, there's some important stuff that happens in this chapter, so I don't recommend you skip it, if you've been following the story, at least. It'll be a lot lighter than the last one, for sure. Just tying up some loose ends before we get back into the action and stuff. Here's chapter four!

**Chapter 4: Visions in the Night**

Nel woke up suddenly. It had been a rough night… _"I don't even remember going home… Sophia must have dropped me off…"_ She looked around, and was surprised to see that she wasn't in her room at all. She was in something that looked suspiciously like a closet. Panicking, Nel was about to push herself out of the closet, when she realized that her arms were duct taped behind her back, and she was tied to a chair. "The fuck?" she said, out loud. There was a note on the door…

_Knock for service, honey._ What the hell was that supposed to mean? Well, it didn't matter. Her priority was to get the hell out. From the worn leather jackets hanging in the closet, and the ice-cold temperature, she gathered that she was at Demetrio's flat in Airyglyph. "Bastard…" she muttered, while looking around for ways to untie herself.

* * *

"Alright, here's the plan." Maria sat in front of Cliff, Fayt, Roger, and Peppita. "We'll need the help of Roger and Peppita, since they're small enough." They both nodded at these words. "Tonight, while we're occupied with the happy gang, they rush in, knock out whoever's guarding Nel, and we run for our bloody lives." 

Cliff and Fayt looked at each other for a few seconds, and then stared at her. "Is that all you came up with?" asked Cliff, curiously.

"YES! You think of something, if you're so brilliant!" she roared almost automatically. Maria was clearly on the edge. Fayt looked at her, aghast. Cliff, on the other hand, looked as if this happened every day (which, Fayt mentally noted, probably did).

"I was hoping to kick some ass, to tell you the truth." Cliff cracked his knuckles. "I'm not gonna readily bow down to these guys and do whatever they want me to."

"Let's just see what they want, first," said Fayt. He would do anything in the world, as long as Nel would end up safe. "I'm sure we'll work something out. Maria, we gotta call Clair... the guys want her there too... make up any story to get her to come."

"Oh, yeah. I'll go and do that… it's her lunch now…" Maria left the mansion, looking for the cell phone that she threw out of the window.

"Heh. She's a bit jumpy today, ain't she?" Cliff simply smiled and laid back in his bed.

* * *

"…and then Schweimer put me in the garbage can, head first! Can you believe that asshole?" Sophia was telling Clair everything that happened last night at Mackwell's. "And there was this other guy there, and he punched Cliff, causing him to fly across the room, and then I heard that Azazer even tried to rape Mirage, and…" 

"Sophia! You're losing control again! Slow down, take easy, deep, breaths…" Clair tried to calm Sophia down.

"Thanks, Clair. But it's just so unfair! Why are those guys so mean to us?"

"I don't know, Sophia. But they will be gone by next year, so let's just try and deal with them for just a few more months." Clair suddenly stopped.

"What's up, Clair?" asked Sophia curiously.

"Phone," she muttered. "Hello? Oh, hey, Maria. You guys feeling better? Sophia told me everything."

_"We're fine now, Clair,"_ said Maria on the other end. _"Listen, we're gonna go see a, uh, a movie tonight. Drop by the Arias mansion tonight. I mean, you kinda live there, so you really have no choice."_

Clair chuckled. "Okay Maria, I'll be there. Want me to bring Sophia, too?"

_"Yeah. Listen, I really gotta go now, Cliff and Fayt won't shut up about wanting to eat lunch, so we'll see you tonight, okay?"_

"Bye." Clair hung up. "Sophia, we're going to see a movie tonight. Come home with me after school."

* * *

"Yo, Demetrio, want a smoke?" asked Schweimer. "You look like you could use one." 

"Give it here." Demetrio lit up, and dragged his cigarette. "If that bastard ever comes out of his coma, he's gonna pay." The six guys were gathered at Demetrio's place, waiting for Nel to wake up. Well, gathered makes it sound as if all of them were lounging around, or something, which was not the case. Really, only Berial, Schweimer, and Demetrio were up. The rest of them were still resting off their injuries. Solon had gone back to his house. Apparently, he lived somewhere in the Aire Hills. None of them knew where, not even Azazer.

"That won't happen. Solute was choking him with all his might. I thought he'd be dead by now." Berial was lifting weights at the corner of Demetrio's room. "Hah, I can bench 320 now! And in case you were wondering, the Aire Hills is one of the most fertile lands in Elicoor. Both Airyglyph and Aquios want to claim it for themselves, and for different reasons. Airyglyph needs the land to grow crops, while Aquios wants the riches underneath the soil."

"Dude, that's deep…" Schweimer said, taking his cigarette out of his mouth. "I never knew all that…"

"That's because you never paid any attention whatsoever in history last year," Berial retorted simply. "By the way, Dem, you've got a message on MSN."

Demetrio made his way over to his computer, to see that Aeris and Meryl, two sluttish girls in the eleventh grade, were talking to him. They were probably in computer science class. He decided to talk to Aeris first, since she was hotter. Meryl could wait a few more minutes.

**aeris – why cudn't they jus use a phoenix down on me? says:**

dem, you bastrd! how cud u do sometin so low!

∞ **Đ Σ M Σ ┼ ® ¡ ô ∞ - jack daniel's! says:**

wtf u talkin bout u crzy bitch

**aeris – why cudn't they jus use a phoenix down on me? says:**

dun even try 2 hide wat u did! sophia told us all

∞ **Đ Σ M Σ ┼ ® ¡ ô ∞ - jack daniel's! says:**

rofl

**Last message received 6/29/2005 at 11:36 AM.**

**meryl – dremela's tool set out on july 15 says:**

hey demetrio, wanna go out tonite (l)

∞ **Đ Σ M Σ ┼ ® ¡ ô ∞ - jack daniel's! says:**

not wit u

**Last message received 6/29/2005 at 11:27 AM.**

With that, Demetrio turned off his computer. They heard something fall in Demetrio's closet, which probably meant Nel was up. "You get it, Schweim."

"With pleasure…"

* * *

Nel cussed. She was trying to move the chair closer to the door so that she could hear what the guys were talking about, but then she lost balance and collapsed against the wall. Before she even tried to get up, there was a voice at the door. 

"You rang?" came Schweimer's throaty voice. It was clear that he was taunting her.

_"Oh, no! It's him…"_ Nel thought to herself. _"Gotta… think of… something…"_ But it was too late. Schweimer opened the door, and Nel did the only thing she could: she spat as hard as she could, and, by some stroke of good luck, it hit him in the eyes.

"Agh! I can't see anything!" Schweimer was jumping around, with Berial and Demetrio watching in complete amusement, trying not to laugh. He accidentally stepped on an empty bottle of beer, which caused him to obviously break it, and hurt himself even further. Now, he was hopping around on one foot, rubbing his eyes, causing his two friends to laugh out loud. They couldn't help it. It also didn't help that Schweimer's yells sounded like a choir of bullfrogs. They didn't even notice that Schweimer's knife fell to the ground while he was jumping around. Fortunately, Nel did.

Making sure that Berial and Demetrio couldn't see her behind Schweimer, she picked it up between the soles of her shoes and somehow put it behind her, so that it ended up in one of her hands. With a twirl of her flexible wrist, she had cut through both the duct tape and the rope. After she freed her legs, she prepared to make a mad dash out of the room.

"Hahah, oh man, Schweimer, this should go on Airyglyph's Funniest Home Videos… do some more funny shit!" Demetrio got his digital camcorder out, but then noticed Nel running out of his room. "Hey, she's getting away! Quick! To the Blackmobile!" It was called the Blackmobile because it was black, like duh.

Before the boys could even get out of Demetrio's room, Nel was out of his front yard and running to freedom. She let out a long whoop of joy as her slightly dirty red hair flew out behind her. She felt great! Sprinting all the way to school would take her no more than ten minutes, at her pace. School? Hah! Screw school! Nel began running to the trading town of Peterny. Her goal? A new pair of running shoes from Vanilla's Sports Wear. She'd been wanting them ever since the beginning of track season.

* * *

"Yo, Maria, what's for lunch?" Cliff's stomach rumbled. "We getting Tynave and Farleen to cook us somethin'?" He smacked his lips. Tynave and Farleen were the maids of the mansion ever since they dropped out of school, and MAN, could they cook. 

"No, Cliff. I'll be cooking today," Maria said confidently. "Hey, where'd you guys go? Oh, really."

As soon as Maria said the words 'I'll be cooking', Cliff had grabbed Fayt and taken refuge in the closet. A muffled voice from the closet spoke up. "Last time you cooked for us, I got ink poisoning! I'm not eating a damn thing!"

Maria sighed in exasperation and dragged Cliff and Fayt out of the closet. It was surprising how strong she was. "You guys will eat lunch here, and you'll enjoy it. Trust me! I've improved a lot since the last time I cooked for you, Cliff."

"Maria!" Cliff yelled, hoarsely. "That was last week!"

"Oh man, after hearing Cliff talk about your cooking, you can count me out, Maria!" Fayt was frantically trying to escape too.

Maria chuckled, as if they were joking around, and dragged them into the kitchen. Roger and Peppita came out of their room, watching Maria overpowering them so easily. They grinned at each other as Cliff started screaming for help, and Fayt hung onto the stair railing, praying to Apris.

* * *

"Okay, so let's have pork chops today! Fayt, I put some in the pantry last night. Quit wasting time and get them for me!" 

Fayt and Cliff looked at each other yet again, worried. Weren't pork chops supposed to be frozen in the refrigerator?

"Oh, and Cliff, since you're not doing anything anyway, I'm gonna need you to take the veggies out of the toaster. I wanted to get them crispy and crunchy, but I guess it didn't work out as well as I had planned."

Vegetables. In a toaster. It didn't take a master chef to realize that eating this meal would be suicide. Fayt and Cliff ran for their lives.

"Come back here, you bunch of nancies! We haven't even started cooking!" yelled Maria. She chased after them. Roger and Peppita were hiding outside the kitchen, with tears of laughter streaming down their faces.

* * *

"Phew! That was close! I knew she wouldn't have improved in a week…" Cliff and Fayt were hiding behind a fence. "Don't let your guard down, she could be just around the corner, ready to… hey! It's Nel!" 

"What? You're kidding me!" Fayt looked around, and sure enough, it was Nel. She was sprinting past Arias at top speed. "Nel! Hey, NEL! Damn, she's out of the town already…"

"Oh boyyyyys, we've got a lot of cooking to do!" Maria had snuck up behind them.

"Fayt, I have a favor to ask of you," Cliff said.

"What's up, Cliff?"

"RUN!"

With that, Fayt and Cliff flew out of Arias like a hurricane. Maria chased them, with a frying pan and a steak knife in her hands.

* * *

"Come on, let's go, man! She's escaped for a good ten minutes now!" 

"Schweimer, if you don't shut up, so help me, I'll pull a Nel and spit in your eye!" Demetrio pushed the pedal to the floor, but his old car wouldn't go any faster than 30 mph on the snowy mountains. "Piece of shit! I gotta get a new black car…"

"These are the Traum Mountains," Berial was telling his two friends. "A rightful territory of Airyglyph, the terrain here is unfertile, and unsuitable for growing any plants or food. Did you know that it never stops snowing here?"

"No way…" said Schweimer, amazed.

"Way!" responded Berial enthusiastically. "It established the name 'Traum' back in the year 912E, when Sir Elbert Traum climbed to the peak of the mountains without any safety equipment. The citizens of Gaitt thought it would be respectful to aptly name the mountain range after the one who had conquered it. Therefore, since then, we have been brought up calling the mountains the 'Traum Mountains'. The mountains here all vary in height, and no two are the same. Of course, no one's ever been to the other side of the mountains yet, so what resides there remains a complete mystery," Berial finished, with an air of mystery in his voice.

"Thanks for the information," Demetrio grunted, rolling his eyes. "Who the hell are you, (insert name of famous historian here)?"

"No, I'm Berial Williams…"

"I was being sarcastic! (insert name of famous historian here) was exponentially better looking than you! Now shut up and help me look for the girl!"

* * *

Nel tumbled into Vanilla's Sports Wear, clutching her sides, and panting from her relentless sprint to freedom. "Agh!" she gasped at a store employee, scaring the living daylights out of him. "I need a new pair of Dragoon Vipers, stat!" Not wanting anything to do with this clearly mentally disturbed woman, the employee darted off to the staff room with a worried look, and had the manager, Vanilla, do something about it. 

"Dragoon Vipers? How did you know about them, young lady?" asked Vanilla, taken aback. Unlike most Elicoorians, Vanilla was a bunny. "They're not on the shelf…"

"I bought my old pair from you guys!" she exclaimed, taking off her old shoes. "I need new ones, right now!"

"Yes, I can see that…" said Vanilla, wrinkling his nose at the unpleasant odor of Nel's worn runners. "Or rather, smell… Anyways, since you asked, I'll go and fetch you a pair from the back. Be right back…"

Nel checked her pockets, and found, at the very least, 500 Fol. She should be able to afford them…

* * *

The old merchant stared at the sight in amazement. Here was a blue-haired girl, sprinting into the central square of Peterny, with a frying pan and cooking knife in her hands, screaming something about how fate had helped her to cook a lunch. "Ye gads, she's lost it completely," he sadly whispered to himself, shaking his head. 

Suddenly, Maria spotted Fayt hiding under a table. "Found you!" She pulled Fayt, by the ear, of course, out from under the table. "Come on, it's too far to go back to Arias now. We'll use the workshop here, and I'm sure we'll come up with a meal fit for a king."

"Cliff! Halp!" cried Fayt at a nearby bush, where Cliff was hiding. He was horrified at what might happen if Maria succeeded in dragging him into the workshop. But he did have to admit, he was overjoyed that Nel was safe. Smiling, he thought of how he was going to confess how he felt for Nel in the future.

Suddenly, they were in front of the workshop, and any thoughts of Nel were immediately pushed out of Fayt's mind. "Mother!" he screamed at the top of his lungs.

"Oh, don't be such a pansy! This'll be a learning experience for the both of us. And with your ingenuity and my cooking skills, we'll have something to eat in a flash!"

Like a good action thriller film, Fayt's voice rumbled as he was being dragged into the dark depths of the workshop. "Nnnnnnnnoooooooooooo!" he yelled in slow motion, with his free arm outstretched to the sky. With some miraculous stroke of luck, Fayt broke free, and ran as fast as he could away from the workshop.

"Well, I guess I'll have to cook on my own today…" Maria sighed, shrugging.

* * *

"2000 Fol! For a pair of shoes? No way!" 

"Way!"

"That can't be right! I bought them for 400 Fol last time!"

"Yes, but this is the new and improved kind. Each pair comes with a built in television screen and microwave, for those who get bored and hungry while they run. In addition, for those who can't bear to stay away from the track for even a minute, it can be folded into a rollaway bed like so..." Vanilla somehow folded the pair of running shoes into something that resembled a tiny cot.

"That's ridiculous! What a waste of space and valuable time!"

Vanilla quietly tucked the shoes away. "Well, I'm sorry, ma'am, but that's how much these shoes are!"

Nel sighed, pulled out her Fol and began counting. "100… 200… 300… 400… 500… 501… 502… 503…"

* * *

"…and to your left is the famous Palmira flower. It is said that, if assembled in a large, circular thread, the bearer will be blessed with good fortune for the rest of their lives. Of course, such a flower is easily found on the Palmira Plains, which boasts some of the most fertile lands in all of Gaitt. Now, of course…" 

"Berial… SHUT – UP!" bellowed Demetrio. He was finding it incredibly difficult to concentrate on the road while his friend was spewing out information that he didn't find interesting in the slightest bit. "We're gonna take a pit stop here. I haven't taken a whiz in over 24 hours."

Demetrio took a look over the cliff on the east side of the plains as he urinated into a pile of bushes. He had driven his Blackmobile off the edge last weekend, because of that bugger, Cliff.

* * *

"554… 555… 557… 560… 561…" 

"Miss, I don't think you have enough…" Vanilla was getting tired of waiting here, even if he was going to make a killer sale.

"Oh, she has enough. Here." Fayt had seen Nel, ran into the store, and was hiding behind her, listening to her count. He shelled out 2000 Fol, and Vanilla immediately boxed the shoes and handed them to Nel.

"Fayt! Omigosh, Fayt! Thank you soooo much!" Nel flung her arms around Fayt's neck and planted kisses all over his face. Whether it was out of gratitude or affection, he didn't know, but this would be the perfect time to tell her… They could talk about how she escaped later…

"Hey, um, Nel? I gotta tell you something…"

"Sure Fayt! What's up?" Nel was still examining her new pair of shoes as if it was her newborn child.

_"Aw, hell, look over here, will you?"_ he thought to himself. But it was no use. Nel seemed to take her running too seriously. "Well, um, I just wanted to say, that… I…"

"Yes?" Nel asked, a little anxious to hear what he was going to say.

"I… I!" Fayt was looking her straight in the eye, all of a sudden. Overcome by his nervousness, he couldn't say anything.

"Hm?" she pushed on curiously.

"I would just like to say… that I… I… I bought these for you as a thank you for welcoming me on my first day! Yeah!" Fayt could have dropkicked himself to the Aquatic Gardens of Surferio.

"Oh. Well, thank you, Fayt! I'll treasure them forever!" Nel couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed by his response.

* * *

"Well, well, well! Look who's finally up!" Cliff strode into the mansion, and saw Mirage sitting at the dining table, having some coffee. It had been a tiring, but fun day for Cliff and the rest of them. They had survived Maria's lunch, found Nel, taken Clair out to a movie (unlike what they originally planned), driven Demetrio's car down the cliff while he and his two buddies were in Peterny looking for Nel, and Cliff even scored five tickets to the Nova Blazes show next week. He was planning on taking Fayt, Mirage, and Nel, even though the latter two hated heavy metal. The last one was saved for Albel, just in case. 

"Feeling better, Mirage?" asked Fayt. "We found Nel, safe and sound!"

"I'm feeling fine, Fayt, thanks for asking. And welcome back, Nel."

"Hey, Mirage, I got tickets for the Nova Blazes next weekend! Wanna come with me, Fayt, and Nel?"

"We're going to see the Nova Blazes?" Fayt and Nel asked at the same time, with confused looks on their faces.

"Yeah. And don't even try to refuse, because I'll be taking you guys in a forklift if I have to," he growled.

"Well, Cliff, it sounds…" Mirage hated metal. But she wanted to be with Cliff, so she finished off her sentence. "Great! I'll go with you guys!"

"All right! It's settled then. You guys are gonna love it! Too bad Nox might not be able to go…"

"You guys, I'm gonna go cook dinner now. You must be starved!" Maria headed to the kitchen, to moans and groans from Cliff and Fayt. Cliff changed the subject by asking Nel to retell her story of how she escaped.

"So, Nel, tell us again how you blew up Demetrio's house with cherry bombs and fought off those vicious gangs of Aqua Wisps on the way to Peterny…"

* * *

The dinner was really good this time, since Tynave and Farleen had helped Maria to cook the meal. Everyone sat around, happily conversing with each other, with no alcohol this time. They had to get back to school tomorrow! Since they were all there already, they thought they might as well stay the night at Clair's. Apparently, Professor Adray would be at school all night, writing up a unit test for his chemistry class tomorrow. Normally, in another teacher's hands, the test would be written in about two hours. However, this was Adray. 

However, if there was anyone who wasn't happy as the rest of them, it was Maria. The day's events had taken her mind off her problems, but now that she was in the same house as Albel again, she was thinking about him again. She couldn't believe that her friends barely seemed to notice that Albel was in a coma! No, this couldn't be happening… She stood up from the table and headed upstairs.

"Hey, Maria, where are you going?" asked Clair.

"Oh, I'm not feeling well… I think I'll go to bed now…"

Confused looks were exchanged at the table. "Guess her homemade meals finally caught up to her, eh?" Cliff speculated.

* * *

Maria changed into her nightclothes, and quickly jumped into bed. Lying there, she could only think about how life would be without Albel. Sure, the guy was coldhearted and unfeeling, but then again, Maria wasn't exactly what you'd call the nicest girl on earth, either. He really was misunderstood… After all these years of knowing him, she realized that she was the only one who had been keeping her sane. While everyone else treated life like a joke, Albel seemed to be the only one with enough sense to realize that life was serious. Just like her. And for this, Maria needed him? Hah… 

Maria heard laughter from downstairs. How could they all be taking this so well? Did they not realize how serious it was to slip into a coma? Albel couldn't die! He absolutely couldn't! Maria would be dead without him…

* * *

_2:16 AM. Whether Maria was awake or not, she didn't know. But all she realized was that Albel was standing at the other end of the room, walking towards her._

_"Albel! Albel, you're up again!" exclaimed Maria. She tried not to sound so happy, but she couldn't help it. "Am I dreaming?"

* * *

_

Realizing the situation he was in, Albel decided to play along. This opportunity was too good to miss. "Yes. You are dreaming. When you wake up, I will be gone from this world of fools." He smirked.

"No…" Maria quietly whimpered. "No, don't leave me!" Albel grinned. It was amazing how different she was when she thought she was asleep. She actually thought she was dreaming. Pitiful.

"Maria, it is over. I will be dead by tomorrow morning. I want you to play 'Stars Fall' by the Nova Blazes at my funeral. Everyone's invited, each and every one of you maggots, and we'll all have a grand time."

"No! That can't happen! You're gonna be okay, you'll live!"

"No I won't. Apris talked to me yesterday, and she said I've been a bad boy. She wants me to die."

"Don't say that, Albel!"

"Hmph. It is my destiny. Muhahahaahah!"

Maria was getting teary-eyed. "No, Albel, no! You'll be okay! You have to be! I don't give you permission to die!"

"Oh? And why is that?"

"Because… because… I need you! I think I might be… in love with you…" Maria was glad this was a dream, since she never would have said it if she was awake. Or was it? Everything seemed so clear. Albel seemed taken aback for a moment, when suddenly, Cliff barged into the room, with Fayt and friends standing just outside the door, staring in amazement that Albel was up so suddenly.

"Yo! Nox! What's up, buddy!" he yelled, as if Albel had only taken a vacation, and had just returned.

"Cliff?" asked Maria, perplexed. "Hey, you're in my dream too?"

"Dream?" Cliff asked. Albel nodded furiously at him, hoping to get him to play along too. Cliff got the message. "Yeah, this is just a dream, Maria. None of what you see is real. So you can tell us your deepest, darkest secrets. Don't worry, no one else will hear them," he added, as he motioned for the others to enter the room to listen.

"Well, since this is a dream, I guess I might as well." Maria sunk into her bed a bit more, and began telling her deepest darkest secret, to Cliff's delight.

"I never fully understand why all of my friends can look at life like there's nothing wrong. There's always something wrong! Like, take our present situation, for example! Albel's in a coma, and you guys are acting like he's away on a pleasure cruise, or something!"

Cliff nudged Albel, who was observing the scene before him in interest.

"That's why I need you, Albel!" she yelled to Albel. "That's why you must not die! You're the only one I know who sees life the way I do. Without you in my life, I'd go insane! YOU are my life!" Maria took a deep breath. "Okay, that's my deepest darkest secret. Since this is a dream, I assume you guys will just evaporate into thin air or something, right before I wake up. So I'm going to close my eyes now, and wake myself up."

Maria shut her eyes, and, rather than wake herself up, fell asleep again. Cliff clapped Albel on the shoulder, and motioned silently for everyone to get out and go to bed. He could barely keep the tears of laughter in. Albel, on the other hand, wasn't laughing at all. He took a long look at Maria, before sitting down on a chair in her room. He sat there for the whole night, thinking about what Maria had just confessed.

* * *

Maria awoke the next morning, disgruntled, and looked at the clock. "6:45…" she muttered. There was still plenty of time before school started, so she thought she'd take a shower first. As she got out of bed, she gave a small shriek when she saw Albel, sleeping on a chair next to her bed. "What the?" 

Did that mean it wasn't a dream? That she really confessed to Albel last night? It felt as if there was something in her stomach squirming to get out. Before she knew it, she let out an ear-splitting scream.

Albel woke up and looked at her. "Hey," he grunted.

* * *

Hey hey hey, that's it for chapter four! So, what'll happen between Albel and Maria, eh? That chapter was kinda slow! Hopefully, things will pick up a bit! Back to school next chapter! See y'all in a week!  



	5. Unexpected Tidings

Hey hey, sorry about the previous chapter! It was really rushed, and I guarantee that most of you were looking forwards to some wacky and action-packed chapter that showcased revenge for Fayt and friends. Nevertheless, I actually took the time to write this one, so hope you'll enjoy chapter five. There's gonna be something unexpected in this chapter, that's for sure.

**Chapter 5: Unexpected Tidings**

Maria backed up as far as she could into the wall, treating Albel as if he was some sort of ghost. Her face was completely pale, and she knew she must have looked like a disaster.

"What's wrong? Never seen such a good-looking guy before?" Albel sneered. Despite his slight feelings for Maria, he just couldn't hold back his arrogant nature.

Maria decided she would play it cool, and act as if she was in total control, even though she still looked as if she had seen the grim reaper. After all, that was the character she portrayed regularly. She attempted to make it sound as if Albel coming out of his coma was nothing big. "So, Albel, I take it you remember everything I said last night?"

"And if I do?"

Maria gulped, but otherwise spoke with confidence. "Then I have nothing to hide from you. You heard what I said last night, and now, all I can do is wait for what you have to say."

Albel looked at her for a moment and weakened, but quickly regained composure. "Hmph. If you think that you're in the same league as me, you've got another think coming. You'd never score with me."

Maria could have slapped him. "Whatever, Albel! If that's the way you feel, then get the hell out of here! Leave me alone!" For the first time ever, Maria wanted to cry out loud, but she wouldn't let herself. She couldn't give Albel the satisfaction. Pushing Albel out of the way as hard as she possibly could, she stormed out of the room.

Maria left the mansion and walked as far as she could take herself. She didn't know where she was going, and where she would be going, but she didn't stop. "Fuck him! Who needs him, anyway! Asshole… Why do I try and be so nice to him? He doesn't deserve me! Shit…" Maria continued ranting on and on to herself, not noticing a guy in a truck following her.

* * *

"Good morning, Cliff," a refreshed Mirage greeted, as the blonde boy walked down the stairs, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "Ready to get back to school?"

Cliff approached Mirage and tried messing up her hair with his hand, but missed and fell over the table instead, landing pancakes and syrup all over his face. Mirage giggled at the sight. "I guess not!"

"Ah, hell, Mirage, it's just school! Listen, I've got a chemistry test today, and I'm not prepared for it whatsoever. You know what this calls for? My regular test procedure."

"Cliff, if you don't start putting some effort into school, you'll never graduate!"

"Ah, what do I care, as long as I get to stay in school another year with you."

Mirage blushed at these words, but she decided that Cliff didn't mean anything by it. They sat down together and cleaned up the mess.

* * *

Fayt stood outside the bathroom, waiting for Nel to come out.

_"Listen, Nel, I know this seems weird, what with me knowing you for only three days so far, but, I love you!"_ Man, no way! He couldn't say that. _"Hey Nel, what's up? So, why don't we take a walk downstairs together, holding hands, just for kicks?" _Fayt almost kicked himself at the thought of saying that.

- click -

The bathroom door opened, and Fayt's brain was reeling. _"Shit!"_

Nel walked out, her hair wet from the shower she just took. Seeing Fayt, she smiled, and said, "Good morning."

"Uhh… morning! Listen, Nel, can I tell you something?"

This time, Nel didn't say anything. She didn't try and push him on, but she looked at him directly in the eyes.

"!"

"Fayt, if you've got something to say to me, just say it! Whatever it is, I'm sure I'll be able to help you out."

"But… This isn't just… anything…" he mumbled, a little too quiet for Nel to hear.

Nel grinned, grabbed him by the cheek, and shook vigorously. "Looks like someone isn't too awake yet! Come on, let's get down to the breakfast table and nourish that sizzled brain of yours…"

* * *

Maria had been walking for an hour. She had no idea where she was, and she was confident that she had never been here before. She saw an alley to the left, and a derelict building to her right. Straight ahead was an unfinished road, and behind her was… a truck.

She walked up to the driver, wondering if he knew where they were. "Excuse me, sir, but could you tell me where…" Stopping mid-sentence, Maria looked at the man she was talking to. He seemed to be in his mid-forties, and kind of looked like a retired boxing champion, or something. His build certainly suggested so. He had an incredibly horny look in his eyes, as smile flickered on his face.

Without warning, he grabbed Maria by the arm and pulled her into the truck. "What the hell are you doing? Let me go!" Maria struggled frantically, but to no avail. The man was too strong. He began undoing her clothes, starting with her shoes, all the way up to her shirt, revealing her bare chest. Seeing Maria completely naked, the man practically had sparkles in his eyes. "You pervert! Let me go! LET ME GO!" Kicking and screaming, Maria still had no chance of escaping. The man clambered on top of her, and began undressing.

Suddenly, just when Maria was losing all hope, the man was lifted off of her. _"Wait a minute. Humans can't fly…"_ The man was on the ground, and who was beating the shit out of him? Of course, it was Albel. "Albel?" she whispered weakly. _"I thought he didn't care about me! What the hell is he doing here?"_

The man hit Albel square in the jaw with a vicious uppercut, and sent him flying up in the air, and falling back down to the ground with a painful thud. Clearly, in the strength department, Albel was no match. However, he excelled in speed. Before the man could even make his way over to Albel, the young rocker had gotten up and whipped a dagger at the man's right knee. It hit him right on, and he fell, gasping in pain. Albel approached Maria, rubbing his jaw where he had been hit. He was bleeding from the his bottom lip.

"Albel! Are you okay? And what are you doing here?" asked Maria in amazement, while pulling her clothes back on.

"Er… ah… I saw you leaving, and a truck following you from your window. Fool! Never expose your back to the enemy!"

Maria didn't get worked up this time. Albel had rescued her at great personal risk, and she knew he wouldn't do that if he didn't care for her. Deciding to take advantage of the situation, she teased, "So, looks like someone's softer than he appears. What made you save me, Albel?"

"Bah!" yelled Albel, though with a slight blush in his face. Maria grinned. She had him now. "As much as I can't stand maggots who can't fend for themselves, you are a friend, and…"

"Albel, shut up." Maria put both of her arms around Albel's neck and their lips melted into each other's. To Maria's complete surprise, Albel made no attempts to break the kiss at all. And again, to Maria's complete surprise, she felt Albel's tongue sliding into her mouth, touching hers. For how long they kissed, neither one knew. But one thing was for certain: they were both enjoying it.

Finally breaking apart, the two stared at each other, before Albel spoke up. "G-g-gah! You! You… I! Agh! I'm ruined!" Maria simply laughed at his reaction, and threw her arms around Albel, pulling him into a hug. Again, Albel didn't resist.

"Thanks, Albel."

* * *

Cliff posted up the last flyer on the cafeteria door.

**Come see Crimzon, live! The Peterny Stadium**

**TONIGHT 7pm – 12am**

**Admission: 75 Fol at the door**

**Bands:**

**The Stone Golems**

**Unnatural Winds**

**Dragoon Nightmares**

**And CRIMZON**

Cliff's band was playing another gig, this time at The Peterny Stadium, one of the largest venues in all of Peterny. They were going to be playing with Roger's band, The Stone Golems.

"The Stone Golems? Who the fuck are they?" asked a mean-looking blonde kid standing near the ad.

"I dunno, man, but they must suck!"

"How do you know?"

"Anyone who names their band The Stone Golems must suck!"

Roger, who was standing beside Cliff, decided to make a quiet escape before the two boys figured out that he was in the band. Unfortunately for Roger, he had a patch reading The Stone Golems on his backpack. The two guys noticed and grabbed him by the collar.

"Hey, you'd better not fuck up this show for us! We're paying good Fol for it!" And with that, the blonde guy tossed Roger to the ground and stepped on his backpack, leaving a footprint over the patch. Everyone pointed and laughed at him, except for Fayt, and Peppita, who helped him up and walked him out of the hall.

"Hey, Roger! You've got a footprint on your ass!" Cliff yelled, as the Peppita and Roger walked off. "Heh, loser! You…" Cliff was interrupted by Fayt.

"Hey, Cliff, that's enough."

"Huh? What's gotten into you? You feelin' alright, kid?" Cliff looked at Fayt incredulously. "Ah well. There! All done. See y'all tomorrow evening!" yelled Cliff. Just at that moment, he saw Maria walking into the cafeteria. _With Albel?_ "What's going on…" Cliff said to himself.

* * *

"Okay, class, books away! I trust you have all studied for this test today!" Professor Adray was up at the front of the class, with a pile of papers in his hand.

Groans filled the classroom as everyone moved to their test seats. Fayt sat in a corner, near Nel. Sophia stayed where she was. Cliff moved to the back of the class, and Albel took put his textbook in his lap.

"Okay, you may… begin! You have one hour to write the test!"

Fayt looked over at Cliff. Within ten seconds, Cliff had looked through the whole test without answering a question, turned it over, and started doing something that looked suspiciously like drawing.

* * *

"Miss Traydor, do you have a note for being absent yesterday?" asked a stern Professor Lezard.

"Um, yeah, hold on, let me get it from my bag…"

She took out a ripped piece of paper, quickly wrote out _Maria will not be attending school on Wednesday_, signed her own signature, and handed it to her teacher.

"Very good! Okay, have a seat."

Maria sat beside Mirage, and nudged her. "Hey, wanna talk?" she asked. She just couldn't get Albel off her mind! Lieber was sitting a seat away, and pretending to do work. Maria knew he was eavesdropping, which was all the better. Perhaps she'd shatter Lieber's crush on her for good. "So, I was almost raped this morning, but that's not important. The main point is… _I was kissing Albel! Tongues, too!_"

Lieber stood up. He stretched out both arms dramatically, and yelled, "NNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

* * *

"You have half an hour left."

Fayt looked over at Cliff, and could barely hold in his laugh. He saw Cliff pointing at his picture furiously, and headbanging like a maniac. Albel had his test finished already, since he was cheating, with his textbook open in his lap. He was spending the rest of the time reliving what happened in the morning with a smirk on his face. Sophia and Nel were writing away furiously, probably the only two who would pass the test (excluding Albel, of course).

Fayt finished his test, turned it over, and started drawing. He drew a heart at first, with an arrow through it. Looking around furtively, he hastily scribbled the word 'Nel' in the heart, and turned it over as quick as he could, pretending he was checking over his answers.

* * *

Demetrio and his gang walked into the school an hour late. He had spent all night getting his car repaired, and he had a shrewd idea of who did it. "Buggers," he muttered. "So we almost killed them. That's not a good enough reason to total my car again!"

Azazer, completely recovered, walked beside him. He was taking his defeat by Albel VERY badly. "I'll have that she-male out of action sooner or later! I'll get my revenge…"

"Psh, you couldn't defeat Albel without the aid of your purdy cousin," Belzeber teased. "He'd spank you all the way to happyland again! You don't staaaaand a chance!" He hit his own ass, and gave out a funny and pleasurable sounding "Ooh!" Everyone backed away from him in alarm, eyes wide open.

"And that blue-haired freak!" yelled Schweimer, pounding his fist into his other palm. Now that he was back at school, Schweimer had to deal with the thought of Fayt again. "Why would Zelpher go for him? What does he have that I don't?"

"Well, he's got balls, for one," chuckled Demetrio. "Even though we kicked his ass, he fought bravely that night at Mackwell's. Whereas the only thing you did was stuff that annoying girl in a garbage can."

"Eh, shut up." Schweimer's face flushed as everyone laughed at him. This was all very difficult for him, seeing as he had been attracted to Nel ever since she entered the school three years ago. And to have a new guy steal her from right under his nose? Impossible! Something had to be done…

* * *

"Hey, Nox." Cliff tapped Albel on the shoulder at the lunch table. "So, you've got somethin' going with Maria, eh?" He winked, and nudged him as he said 'eh'.

"Bah. You don't know the half of it, fool."

"So, how'd she manage to subdue you? I've never known any femme fatale to be worthy of taming the monster that's Albel Nox."

"She didn't tame me, idiot!" growled Albel. But apparently, he couldn't think of anything else to say, so he kept on eating his beef patty, while occasionally stealing evil glances at Cliff.

"Heh heh, sure, whatever you say, buddy! Just remember, we've got a gig tomorrow, so try and keep your lips unlocked until after then." He winked as Maria approached them. "Whoops! That's my cue to leave. Good luck." He clapped Albel on the shoulder and left before the young Glyphian could hit him.

"So, Albel, about this morning…" Maria began.

Albel grunted. "Let's not ruin the moment by talking about it."

"Deal! But, first, there's one thing I'd like to know."

"Hmph. What is it?"

Maria grinned. She had never had a conversation with Albel without being ridiculed before. She liked the feeling. She chose her words carefully, and said, "Am I your… your girlfriend?"

Once again, a blush crept up Albel's face. He didn't say anything, and continued eating, staring straight forward. Before Maria said anything else, he gave a very slight, almost unnoticeable nod.

"YES!" Everyone went quiet and looked at Maria after she had shouted out loud.

"Sit down!" Albel hissed vehemently. Maria smiled and gave him a small kiss on the cheek. In spite of himself, Albel smiled a rare smile.

* * *

"So, when are we gonna do it?" asked Schweimer, eagerly.

"Prom. That lot is popular enough to get invited to a party on prom weekend, even if they are a year younger. We'll do our business there. It'll probably be at Virgil's. That guy's even got a fountain in his front lawn." Demetrio put a cigarette in his mouth, and started thinking. "Alright, here's the plan. We've got 3 months until prom. What we gotta do, is get this clown, Fayt, to seem like he's not interested in Zelpher anymore."

"Easier said than done, sunshine," Schweimer scowled, as he kicked the ground. "The way I see it, we won't be able to break 'em apart without a hacksaw."

"That's where those two sluts come in," Demetrio whispered, gesturing over to Meryl and Aeris, at the other end of the field. "We get one of them to hit on Fayt, maybe drag him into a room, all the works," he said with a nasty smile. "Hint loudly that he's in the room while we're near Zelpher, and she'll go check it out. Job done! Of course, we'll be makin' things difficult for them leading up to prom, too."

* * *

"Yo, Cliff."

"Hey, what's up buddy? Need help from your older, wiser, better-looking role model?"

"Very funny. I need… girl help…"

Fayt and Cliff were walking with each other down the hall, after school. It was torturous enough for Fayt to sit through the entire day staring at Nel, but not being able to do anything about it!

"Alright kid, who's the lucky girl? Is it Nel?"

"What the? How did you know?"

"Heh. I just said something random, and let nature take it's course. So, it IS Nel. Hahah!"

Fayt blushed crimson. "So… what do I do?"

Cliff shrugged. "Ask her out, or somethin'? I dunno, that's what I'd usually do."

"Thanks, man. You were a great help," Fayt said sarcastically.

"Well, better think fast man, cause here she comes, and she looks like she's a woman with somethin' to say."

And sure enough, Nel was striding towards Fayt, looking directly at him. On her way, the cocky looking blonde kid, who had beaten up Roger, put his hand on her ass, and squeezed tightly. With a shocked expression on her face, Nel turned around, only to have the student trip her so that her books flew all over the place, anime-style. As he and his group of friends started laughing at her and taunting her, footsteps were heard galloping towards them. The next second, the husky looking blonde guy was on the ground. And who was on top of him? _Fayt_.

"Dipshit! You guys think it's funny to beat up on little kids? You guys think you can just go up to any woman and grab her ass? I'm gonna teach you some manners, you prick!"

Cliff and Nel both watched in shock as Fayt knocked the guy senseless on the ground. It wasn't until Vice Principal Dima strode by that Fayt stopped. The guy on the ground had a bloody nose, and was looking up at Fayt with a scared look.

"Well, what seems to be the problem here, Master Virgil?" Dima asked. Virgil was an asshole, but around teachers, he put on his best behavior (don't you hate guys like that?).

"This madman attacked me, ma'am! I was here, minding my own business, and he knocked me to the floor and started beating me up!"

"You liar! You beat up Roger this morning, and you just humiliated Nel in front of a crowd of people!" Fayt was losing it. He wanted to rip the guy's face off.

"That will do, young man. Your name?"

"But!"

"I asked for your name."

"FAYT LEINGOD! ARE YOU HAPPY NOW?" he yelled at the top of his lungs, unable to hold it in anymore.

The VP was taken aback. "Very well, Mr. Leingod," she stammered. "Detention. Now. Go."

Fayt didn't even look at her, or anyone else. He flung his bag over his shoulder, and stormed off to the detention room. Shaking her head, the VP walked back to the office, while Virgil and his gang left the hall, glaring at Nel and Cliff.

"Whoa. I didn't see THAT one comin'."

"Yeah. Wow… did you see how he mastered that, Cliff? Omigosh! He looked SOOO amazing when he was beating up that jackass!"

"Yeah…"

* * *

"Fuckin' hell… it's so unfair… assholes like them get away with everything, and we get put away just for telling them off…"

Fayt was mumbling to himself in the detention room. Suddenly, Roger came in. He apparently got into some trouble in front of the office because his bag had split, and his whole messy lunch was splattered onto the floor. Thinking it was some kind of a prank, the VP had sentenced him to detention later that day as well.

"Hey! Hey, Fayt! You're here too? What'd you do, man?"

"Huh? Oh, hey Roger." Fayt sighed. He really wasn't in the mood for talking to Roger right now. "What's up?"

"Oh, not much. You know, you're a really good friend, and we've got some time! Can I talk to you about somethin'?"

"Sure…" Fayt mumbled absent-mindedly.

"All right! Well, you see, I have this… train set at home. It's pretty significant to me, seeing as it was a gift to me from my dead grandparents."

"Mm hm…" Fayt hummed, thinking about Nel.

"Well, anyway, this thing isn't working! Like, I can't get the trains to go! So I figured, hey, you're from Greeton, right? Maybe you could help me fix it?"

"Hm." Fayt was staring out the window.

"Fayt? Buddy!"

"Oh, sorry Roger, I kinda drifted off there. What'd you say?"

"Can you fix the train set for me? It'd mean a lot!" Roger smiled eagerly at him. He looked so happy, Fayt couldn't deny him.

"Oh, I… Oh alright. But some other time, okay? I've got lots to deal with at the moment."

"No sweat, man! Oh, hey, I'm havin' a midnight barbecue at my place tonight, after the show! You gotta come! I'm only inviting close friends, though!"

The impact of these words hit Fayt. A week ago, he had no friends whatsoever. Now, he had _close_ friends. He couldn't help but smile at the guy. "Yeah, Roger. I'll definitely be there!" He patted him on the shoulder. He couldn't help thinking… the kid had a big mouth, but once you got to know him, he really was a cool guy.

* * *

"Alright, we're up in an hour. You guys ready?" Cliff and his band were setting up on the stage at Peterny Stadium. He set up the stands and put up the cymbals. "We're gonna knock 'em dead!"

Albel hooked up his trusty 7-string Ibanez into his amp. He turned it full blast, and struck a pinch harmonic. The empty stadium echoed. He grinned.

The bassist, Gusto, was sitting there, drinking a beer. The vocalist, Gabriel, was doing voice warm-up exercises.

Roger's band was having a bit more trouble. They hooked up everything, but it wasn't going. "Hey, Cliff, buddy, can ya come over and help us out?"

Cliff came over, sighing in exasperation. "Come on, can't you do anything right?" He was clearly tense about playing the gig. Nevertheless, he helped Roger's band set up.

"Thanks, big buddy! I owe ya one!" Roger yelled after him. Cliff simply walked away without looking back. "Hm. Guess he didn't hear me…"

* * *

The night started out awful. Roger's _Stone Golems_ were immediately booed off the stage, leaving him upset and depressed. They didn't even get a chance to play a single song.

The other bands were alright. Roger's band probably would have been better than them, but the crowd didn't give them trouble. Nothing to write home about.

However, once Cliff's band got onto stage, the crowd went wild. They played five songs, and the night ended with a monstrous guitar solo by Albel, shredding like none other. They really made it known that Crimzon were the champions that night. Even Nel had a good time, and she flat out _hated_ heavy metal.

* * *

"Awesome gig tonight, Cliff!" Mirage gave him a giant hug, rather impressed with how wild he went when he played the drums. They were backstage, right after the show.

"Albel, after seeing that solo at the end, I have come to the conclusion… that YOU. ARE. APRIS." Steeg got down onto his knees and started bowing down to him.

Everyone seemed to be having a jolly good time, other than Roger, who was sitting in the corner, alone with Peppita. Fayt showed signs of wanting to go over and talk to him, but when Cliff starting smashing bottles of beer over his head for entertainment, he had to stay and watch. He didn't notice a blonde haired head sticking in through the door.

* * *

Out on the parking lot, Fayt approached Nel. _"This is it"_, he thought. _"I'm gonna ask her out, and she's gonna say yes. Alright, buddy, focus…"_

He was two meters away from Nel… one meter… he was right next to her…

"Nel… this time, I'm gonna actually tell you what I've been meaning to tell you to tell you a long time ago."

"Um… huh?"

Fayt blanched at his stupid choice of words. "Look, Nel, I really, really, like…"

"FAYT, LOOK OUT!"

Nel pushed Fayt out of the way, just as Virgil's car zoomed towards him. It was about to hit Nel!

"NEL! I'VE GOT YOU!" But it was too late… Fayt would never reach her on time. "SHIT!"

At the last moment, Roger rushed in and shoved Nel to the other side of the street. He took the full impact, and was immediately knocked unconscious. One of the guys in the car rolled down their window, took a wild shot with a gun, and hit Nel right in the shoulder. She fell to the ground, screaming in pain. The boys in the car zipped away, laughing their drunken asses off.

* * *

"Nurse, is she going to be alright?" Fayt was trying his best to keep calm. Nel was feeling faint, and her arm was bleeding like crazy.

"She'll need to stay here for a couple of nights, but she'll be fine. Keep a close eye on her, and make sure she doesn't use that arm!"

Fayt sighed with relief, at the same time as the rest of the gang. "Hey, Nel, I swear I'm gonna take you out after your arm gets better, okay?"

"You… promised…" Nel gasped in pain, but smiling at the same time.

"I promise! We're gonna have a great time!"

Fayt nudged Cliff and winked at him. It was a while before anyone spoke up again.

"Well! I believe we've had quite a day, haven't we?" Cliff stretched out his arms, and yawned. "Well, I doubt things will get much worse, so let's go ahead and get some rest for tonight!"

As they were leaving, Fayt couldn't help but feel unsettled. He couldn't understand why, but something was up. And he didn't like the feeling.

All of a sudden, another nurse entered with a stony look on her face. "Hey, what's up, nurse?" asked Cliff.

She looked at him gravely, and shook her head. "Your friend Roger… is dead."

* * *

Chapter 5 is done… Hope you enjoyed it. Chapter 6 is up shortly. 


	6. The Lament of Roger S Huxley

Hey all, sorry about not updating over the summer. I just had too much to do. Well, now that school is here, I can go back to my procrastinating ways again, and what better way to procrastinate than by writing some more chapters of fanfiction? This one is a very short one, as you'll see. After the incident of last chapter, it's only right to follow it up with something like this. Your favourite high school heroes will be back in action soon enough.

By the way, check out my other fanfiction. It centers around the same characters, except it's more towards the… dark, violent side. Not to say it should be banned, or pushing the NC-17 rating. It's just quite different from this one. Check it out if you have time! It's called "A Gangster's Story".

**Chapter 6: The Lament of Roger S. Huxley**

Fayt and Cliff stood there, staring at the nurse. The room went dead quiet. Maria, Mirage, Sophia, and Nel seemed to have trouble digesting what the nurse had just said. And suddenly, without warning, Peppita came running into the room, bawling her head off.

"Peppita, calm down!" yelled Cliff, as he wrapped her in a bear hug to prevent her from doing anything stupid and irrational. "Oh, lord, she's going nuts! Fayt, come over here and help me!"

As Fayt grabbed hold of Peppita's arms, the terrible truth sank in. Roger S. Huxley was dead, and there was nothing anyone could do about it. Unbelievable as it was, Fayt had just witnessed one of his first friends murdered. It was too much to bear.

"Let go of me! It's ALL – YOUR – FAULT!" Peppita pointed at Cliff and screamed. "You were always so mean to him, even though he treated you like one of his role models!" Cliff was taken aback at these words. "And tonight! He was feeling so upset after the show, and not a single one of his _friends_ went to comfort him!"

"Come on now, Peppita, you know that's not true," Cliff hushed. But when he thought about it, he realized that he had been a total prick to Roger while he was still alive. Peppita's words had made a large impact on the guy.

"It's perfectly true! And from now on, I want NOTHING to do with you guys! EVER!" Peppita howled and left the room, leaving a heavy silence in her midst.

Fayt looked around. He had never seen Cliff look so ashamed, or upset. He didn't blame him, either. Fayt was just about to start crying himself. Maria and Mirage were already getting teary-eyed, and Sophia couldn't hold the tears back. Nel only looked shocked. Albel stood next to Maria, his expression blank.

"I… I… can't believe it…" Cliff was mumbling to himself. "The last thing I said to him was… that he couldn't do anything right…" He sat down in a chair and put his head to his hands.

"Cliff, it's not your fault," sobbed Mirage, patting him on the back. "You didn't kill him, that bastard Virgil did. And if you were to make Roger happier than he ever was, you'd acknowledge that and continue on with your life."

"Virgil… that fucking prick… I'll make sure he never sees the light of day again…" Cliff stood up abruptly and slammed his fist into the wall, scaring everyone in the room. "Fuck! What the fuck was he thinking? Why, Apris? Why take the life of an innocent young kid? ANSWER ME!" Cliff drove his fist through the wall and crumpled to the ground in a heap, sobbing. Fayt never expected to see him cry.

"Cut it out, fool!" Albel walked up next to Cliff and dragged him to his feet. "You're making me sick! Are you going to simply cry about the fact that one of our friends has snuffed it? Act like a fucking man!"

"S-s-sorry… lost control there," Cliff spoke, in anguished gasps. "Sorry, guys. Sorry, Roger…"

* * *

The next day at school, a memorial service was held in honor of Roger. They set up a video projector in the gymnasium, and the whole school was seated in there. The video played a slideshow of many pictures of Roger, as well as a video taken of a play he had starred in when he was in the third grade. 

All through the service, most of the students stayed quiet. The loss of a fellow student had never seemed possible to them, but, here it was, plain as day, that one of their companions had just fallen. Across the gym, Fayt saw Schweimer and his group of friends, chatting animatedly. He wanted to kill them, to wring their heads from their necks. How could they disrespect Roger any more?

As for the daily life of the students, there was an air of misery about the whole school, as well as an increased amount of fights and attacks in the hallways. Kirlsa High was going to the dumps. Who would have thought that one foolish teen's decision would have such a dramatic effect on the whole school?

Virgil had been expelled, and sent to a boys' home. He was charged with first degree manslaughter, and was required to do 500 hours of community service. He spent most of the time smoking up on street corners instead of doing what he was supposed to be.

And Peppita. She never showed up to the school after that night. None of her friends had seen her since the hospital incident, and although many tried to find out what happened, their attempts were failed. It seemed like Roger S. Huxley's death had caused a definite decline in the usual behavior of Kirlsa High.

* * *

"What's up, Cliff? You feelin' alright?" Fayt had walked over to Cliff's to see how he was doing. When he got there, Cliff was on the lawn, sitting there and smoking a cigarette, and his hand seemed to tremble a little, but other than that, he seemed alright. 

"Hey, kid. I'm doing fine, thanks for dropping by." Cliff gestured to the house. "You should see the mess my house is in now… Mirage is in there helping me clean up. I don't deserve this… being a lousy friend and all…"

"Come on, Cliff. Quit talking like that. We all know that you didn't want this to happen, and we can all see that it affected you the most. You know what? Just get past it, and go on with life. Nothing we do will bring Roger back. So let's enjoy our lives to the fullest, like I know Roger would want us to."

Cliff sighed and laid back onto the grass. It would be a long while before he'd forgive himself for being such a jerk to Roger, but he felt that he'd get over it in due time.

* * *

"Oh, Fayt! Thanks for coming to see me! Oh, wow! Are these flowers for me? They're beautiful! Thanks!" 

Nel was resting in her hospital bed. She looked around, and, of course, no Fayt. She considered it rehearsing for when Fayt did come, and she was hell bent on telling him how she felt about him the next time he dropped by. No sooner had this thought left her mind, the door creaked open. Nel's heart immediately started beating quicker. But it was…

"Hey Nel! How's it going? Albel and I were just getting some dinner nearby, and thought we'd come see you!" Maria took a chair and sat down next to Nel's bed.

"Hey, guys, thanks for dropping by," Nel sighed. Looking at Albel and Maria together, Nel could not picture a more unlikely couple, but hey, whatever worked for them.

"You know, these nurses here are damned occupied. I doubt they'd notice if one of their patients got up out of bed, walked out of the hospital, and got wasted." Albel gestured to the hospital hallway. There was an odd glint in his eyes…

"Uhh… are you doing what I think you're going to think about doing?" Nel asked curiously. Without warning, Albel grabbed Nel and brought her feet to the ground.

"Come on, Nel. Life's not the same without you," Maria exclaimed to her, as they helped her out of the room. "We're going to bring you to Cliff's. Oh, and by the way," Maria added, "Roger's funeral is tomorrow. We're going to go pay our last respects to the kid…"

* * *

As the coffin was lowered into the ground, Fayt wiped a tear from his eye. It wasn't easy, knowing that one of his friends would be gone forever. Seeing the coffin being buried like that really brought home the fact that Roger would not be coming back. 

Maria, Nel, Mirage, and Sophia walked up to the mound of dirt that was now Roger's deathbed, and lowered their roses onto it. Cliff was at a loss of words. Albel merely stood there. Fayt, who was the last up, put a model train on top of the dirt mound, with a note…

_I fixed your train set, little buddy. Come back and check it out when you've got the time, alright? - Your friend, Fayt._

As corny as this seemed, no one said anything about it. Fayt kneeled down beside the grave, and said, "What's up, buddy? You have a good time up there in heaven, alright? Don't forget about us, we're going to visit you here very often, cool?" With that, he bowed his head, and finally let his tears out. Cliff kneeled beside him, and bowed as well.

* * *

"Well, I guess that's that," Fayt said.

"Yeah… the end of a friend…" Cliff shook his head to clear up his mind.

"Roger, we're going to miss you…" Maria wiped her eyes with a tissue.

"Say hey to Apris for me, runt. Don't worry, we'll get those bastards who did this to you." Albel looked up to the sky, licking his lips at the thought of revenge.

Sophia was sobbing uncontrollably.

"Forgive Cliff, Roger… he never really hated you..." sobbed Mirage.

"I owe you my life, little guy… thanks," Nel said through blurry eyes of tears.

And together, they lifted their beers to the sky, and toasted to Roger S. Huxley.

* * *

That wraps it up for the short chapter 6. Don't worry, I promise chapter 7 won't take too long ;) 


	7. Fayt's Fateful Night Out

Okay, so I totally, totally lied when I said chapter 7 wouldn't take long. Looks like I'm… 10 months late! To tell you all the truth, I actually haven't been working on this at all in the past 10 months, and to those who have been waiting to see what will happen, I'M SORRY!

Anyways, I re-read the whole story so far, and I must say, I'm capable of much, much more now D. I also noticed that it has very little to do with actual high school… and much more to do with the life of high school students, which is what it should be like, I suppose. Over the past year, I've had quite a few experiences (some amusing, some embarrassing, and some that I hope I'll never have to experience again), and of course, being a graduated high-school student now, I'll try to incorporate some of my experiences into this story.

So, how about that Virgil kid, eh? I was originally going to use Dion in his place, but that's just overkill in terms of out-of-character-ness. So yeah, Virgil's going to be one of the few original characters of mine. In case you didn't notice, the guy's a total prick, and probably spoiled too, due to his huge house.

Once again, terribly sorry about the long (and yes, I mean LONG) wait; let's hope the wait was worth it, okay? Without further ado, I present to you… Chapter 7. For those of you waiting for something to happen between Fayt and Nel…

**Chapter 7: Fayt's Fateful Night Out**

With Roger's death and funeral behind them, the group swore to try and live life as it was before. This was a rude awakening to all of them; they had lost two friends in one night. One was dead, and one went missing.

"Well, that's over with," sighed a troubled Cliff. Admittedly, he had cried, and it had felt a lot better. However, this was no time to retain his tough-guy image. Everyone had bawled their eyes out (with the exception of Mr. I'm-Too-Badass-To-Show-Emotions Albel Nox) when Roger's coffin lid closed, and yet again when his casket was lowered into the ground.

"Yeah…" was all Fayt could manage to say at the moment. He took one last look at the Arias cemetery as Cliff's van took them away from it.

"At any rate, let's just try and put this behind us," said Cliff in a matter-of-fact manner. Of course, the kid's death affected him more than anyone other than Peppita. "No sense dwelling on the past. So, I suggest we all go home, cry our eyes out in private, sleep for about two days straight, and then we'll all get up and go at our lives like usual."

"Motion seconded," croaked Sophia quietly.

"Sounds like a plan."

"Aye."

"The ayes have it."

"Alrighty then, let's get you all home." Cliff sped off towards Peterny, aching for his bed.

* * *

It was as if the two days off had given everyone new spirit. When they all got together on Sunday evening, everyone was smiling and back to their normal selves. 

"Heeeeey, buddy!" Cliff dove headfirst at Fayt and entangled him in a complex headlock. "Long time no see, eh? Heh!"

"Knock it out, asshat," joked Fayt. It was great to see his friends again! "Hey, let's go visit Nel at the hospital!" Apparently, she hadn't been feeling well after the funeral, and went back to the hospital.

"You don't want to sound too eager," Sophia advised, for she now knew Fayt's feelings for Nel. In fact, Cliff had taken the liberty to tell just about everyone who would listen (except for Nel herself). "Otherwise it'll make it look like you're desperate for her. It's pathetic! Us girls hate that…"

Fayt blushed, as Mirage giggled. "Eh, I guess you're right…" The awkward silence that ensued provoked Cliff into putting in his two cents…

"Well, this is about as exciting as a crumpled tissue filled with mucus. Let's hunt some action! It's a fine and dandy Sunday evenin'!" Cliff did a flip in the air, grabbed everyone, and tossed them all into the van at once. "Let's, uh, avoid Mackwell's for the time being, what do you say?"

No one could disagree with him there.

* * *

"Hey, Dem- 

"SHUT UP! I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT!"

Demetrio's blackmobile was quite the sight. To his dismay, when he had it repaired the other night, it fell apart once again. He later found out that the parts had been sliced off completely with a sword. How he could have missed this in the first place is beyond anyone's comprehension.

After the car completely collapsed in the middle of the Traum Mountains, he had pieced all the parts together with – get this… - DUCT TAPE! As the vehicle chugged along the Palmira Plains on its way to Peterny, even the monsters pointed and laughed.

"I swear to Apris, I'm going to get those punters," grunted Demetrio. His friends obviously found the whole situation more amusing than their driver. Of course, they were now too scared to talk, thanks to Demetrio's latest outburst.

"Hey! Check it out! Palmira grass!" Berial pointed excitedly at the field, trying to change the subject. "Once only vested in roots and dirt, Palmira grass is nourished-

"Dude, not helping!"

* * *

"So I says to him, I says…" 

Cliff was, once again, telling some wild story to Fayt and Co., and judging by their reactions, it was obviously rather amusing. The group had decided to stop by Rigel's Bar and Grill for dinner and a night of mad drinking. After all, thanks to Maria's conniving skills, there were only four school days per week now. They had the next morning off!

As Rigel pulled Albel on stage to play guitar with the rest of the band, Cliff started telling the group yet another story about his rivalry with Demetrio.

"You should have seen the message I left him in his busted car!"

"What was it, Cliff?"

The Klausian grinned proudly, and, as if he was announcing the location of the next Olympics, he said, "I added insult to injury, I did. Hah, I spelled out 104-94 in weed, glued to his dash in the spot where he definitely can't see while driving."

* * *

Many miles away from Rigel's, Demetrio noticed the message left by Cliff. But not before Officer Dejison noticed and pulled him over. 

Demetrio cursed as Berial, Schweimer, Belzeber, Azazer, and Vox booked it across the fields. And that, as they say, is that.

* * *

"So yeah, he's probably out getting booked for possession somewhere, the silly ass. Heheh." 

Fayt sighed and stared at Cliff in amazement as the rest of the group chuckled heartily. "Hey, Cliff, how do you manage to pull off all this crazy stuff while making it all look so easy and laid back? _Maybe I can use some of his pointers to ask Nel out too…"_ he added as an afterthought.

Cliff merely pushed a forty of rum towards him. "Does wonders, I tell ya. Let's give it a try tonight, eh? Let the good times roll!"

And with that, Cliff tore off the cap of his whiskey, and started chugging…

* * *

"Excuse me, nurse?" 

"What is it, Ms. Zephyr?"

"That's Zelpher. And can I use the phone for something?"

"Of course, dial 9 first."

Nel grabbed the phone next to her bed and dialled Maria's cell phone number. She was feeling much better, and wanted to meet up with her friends that evening. Lying in a bed for the past two days had made her rather energetic.

"_Yepz?"_

"Hey, Maria! It's Nel!"

_"Hey baby, you feelin' betta?" Hic "Come down to Rigel's! The whole gang's here! Other than Roger and Peppita, of course, because, you know, Roger's kinda dead, and Peppita's a bit pissed at us, I think. But Clair's here, she's lookin' real good…"_

"Yeah, I'm feeling lots better!" Nel exclaimed. _"Wow, drunk already? It's only 7:30… damn Cliff and his peer pressure…"_ She couldn't help smiling to herself.

"_**O sole mio!"**_

Nel laughed out loud. "Cut it out, will you? I'm in a hospital! They can probably hear you singing from the next room!"

"_Get yo' sexy ass down here!"_

Without further ado, Nel slammed down the phone and casually jumped out her window. In any normal circumstance, she never would have done something so… _rebellious…_ but something was telling her that tonight would be special…

* * *

"Hey, Schweim, you're not gonna believe this, but the blue-headed kid is here at Rigel's… you wanna try and get Aeris and Meryl over? I've got a camcorder and some ecstasy… we leave the tape on Zelpher's doorstep and the kid won't stand a chance with her no more!" 

_"Goody gum-drops. I'll get right on that."_

"Yeah, you do that. Hey, are you still paying me to tail them? Or is my job done now? Because, you know, I wanna get laid tonight, and to do that, I need-

_Click!_

"Hey, Schweim? Schweim! Aw, nuts…"

* * *

Nel boarded the bus from the hospital. Mentally rehearsing, she thought of what she'd say to Fayt later on in the night. 

"Hey, Fayt." Unfortunately, that's all she could come up with before the nurse that was tending her came dashing out of the hospital's front doors, shaking her fist in Nel's direction.

"I'm feeling much better now!" she called out. "Thanks for treating me!"

"You stupid bint! Come back here! You're still registered in this room!"

"Ta-ta!"

And with that, the bus sped towards Peterny with Nel feeling more confident than ever.

* * *

"ONE TEQUILA, TWO TEQUILA, THREE TEQUILA, FLOOR!" 

The whole group raucously chanted the oh-so-familiar chant as Sophia downed three shots of straight Tequila, and, just like the song suggested, fell to the ground. Everyone cracked up; quite a bit of drinking had been done by now, and they weren't done yet… not by a long shot.

The band was ripping it apart. Actually, it was just Albel. Yuna and Rikku were completely hammered; it seemed as if the new 4-day week at Kirlsa High was much cause of celebration. Most of the juniors and seniors were at the bar.

Fayt took a seat next to Cliff. He was feeling incredibly buzzed, having drank more than he did last time. A few more and he'd be done… "Hey man, what do you think of this Virgil guy?"

Cliff, who was still feeling fine at this point, frowned immediately. "You know, I haven't seen the guy until recently. In fact, I've never seen him before this week, and it seems as if no one knows who the hell he is…"

With both lost deep in their thoughts, and the rest of the group either up dancing like drunkards or passed out on the floor, they didn't notice an unshaven character with dangerous black spikes walk into the bar. And of course, they didn't notice him slipping something into Fayt's drink.

* * *

"_Alright, so I know that Fayt has something to tell me, and I bet I know what it is."_ Long bus rides always helped Nel to think things over. _"He just needs to find the right opportunity."_

"Seat taken?"

"Oh, no, go ahead." Immersed in her own thoughts, Nel didn't notice the two girls that just got onto the bus, or the discussion of their plans for Fayt that night.

"So what are we supposed to do? Just flirt with the blue-haired kid?"

"Well, I dunno, Aeris. Schweimer just called me up and told me that he'd pay us both 1000 Fol if we're able to get the red-headed girl pissed off at him."

"Well, that won't be hard, Meryl. I haven't been laid in two weeks… I'll settle for anyone… or anything…"

"What does he look like?" asked Meryl. "We can't do this if we don't know what he looks like."

"Oh, um, he's that kid who got into the fight the other day."

Meryl giggled. "Hey, he's kinda cute…"

"All the better," replied Aeris. And they both spent the rest of the bus ride discussing their favourite positions while having sex.

_"Yep, just gotta remain confident when I see him…"_ Nel had no idea what was in store for Fayt, or her.

* * *

"Yo, look at me, I'm Nemo!" 

Fayt and Maria doubled up with laughter as Cliff did a haphazard sort of wriggle on the ground with his arms sticking out to the side, flapping back and forth. Apparently, it was his interpretation of a fish. Mirage simply smiled and shook her head.

"Hey, Fayt, I'm sooooooo drunk!" Cliff grabbed Fayt and started dancing around with him. "And guess what? You should be too!"

"I dunno, I'm feeling pretty drunk already… I think I should stop…"

"Nonsense! You ain't ever drunk enough! DRINK UP!"

"Weelllll… alright, for you, Cliff, anything." Fayt absent-mindedly picked up his beer, and, without looking, downed the rest of it. "There ya go. Happy?"

"Yeeeaaaahhhh. Now come and dance with me."

* * *

"Pssst… Meryl… isn't that the girl that we're supposed to be screwing over?" whispered Aeris to her companion, while pointing to Nel, who was sitting right next to them. 

"Yeah… I think she's the one!"

"Hmm… okay. There's a bathroom on the bus… let's lock her in it!"

"How?"

"Like this…"

Aeris whacked Nel on the head with one of her heels, and she fell unconscious immediately. The driver didn't even notice.

"Okay, now we drag her in there, and that's that!"

After the girls finished up with Nel, they grabbed some clothes out of their bags.

"You know what, Aeris? I just love role-play…"

* * *

"Fayt? Are you alright? FAYT!" 

Mirage panicked as Fayt started sweating like crazy. Not only that, but he was also dancing mad, and couldn't seem to stop. If he continued like this, he would surely dehydrate. "Cliff, something's wrong with Fayt!"

"Good lord! What are you on, kid?"

Albel rushed from the stage. Having the most experience with drugs, he automatically realized that Fayt had been slipped some ecstasy. "Give him water, and make sure-

At that moment, two girls swooped dressed in nurse uniforms and dragged Fayt away.

"Don't worry, we'll help him out!"

Cliff and Mirage, who were too drunk to see that these two girls were from their school (and also hailed as the resident sluts), just stood there, relieved. Albel, who didn't socialize with anyone he considered inferior (everyone else), didn't recognize them either.

"All right, show time." Schweimer whipped out his mini-camcorder and followed the girls to a private room near the back of the bar, but not before tossing 100 Fol to Rigel for the room.

Hic "Thaannkks!" said Rigel, as she watched Fayt get dragged into the room.

It was a small room with a couch along the walls. Schweimer looked around, and grinned. "Okay girls, do what you do best! Hahahaha…"

As Meryl unbuttoned Fayt's shirt and pants, Schweimer hit "Record".

* * *

The bus was headed towards Aquios when Nel finally pulled herself back to consciousness. "Bitches! I gave them the seats too!" 

She clambered out of the bathroom and hollered for the bus driver to stop. "Where are we!"

"We're on the Irisa Fields, lady. You wanna get off here? Fare's gonna be 35 Fol."

Nel dropped the money into the box and sprinted out, towards Peterny. Something was up, and whatever it was, it made Nel nervous.

_"Okay girl, focus… tonight could end up a very special night if you keep your cool… but it could all go to shit if you screw up, so remain calm…"_

* * *

Back at Rigel's, Albel and Maria had left the building hand in hand, and had started making out furiously just outside the doors. So naturally, they were rather irritated when Nel decided to interrupt them to ask where Fayt was. 

"What, what, what, WHAT!" yelled Albel.

Nel was taken aback, but this was no time to choke up. "Where's Fayt?"

"In there, tripping out! Now leave us alone!"

"Thanks, it's good to see you too, Albel." Nel rolled her eyes and entered the bar. "Hey, Rigel, can I get a Screwdriver?"

"Sure, honey!" Even Rigel seemed to have joined in the partying. There wasn't a sober person in sight…

"Thanks. Oh, and did you see a blue-haired boy around?"

"Heeheehee, nooooo, I didn't…"

Nel shook her head and made her way over to where she saw Cliff and Mirage were climbing one of the walls. "Hey guys, did you see Fayt?"

"Heeeey, Nel, you feelin' better! Come join us up here, this is mad fun!" With that, Cliff fell flat on his back from five feet up and started laughing his ass off.

"Maybe later, Cliff," giggled Nel. If there was one thing you could rely on Cliff for, it was to make you laugh. "Did you guys see Fayt or not?"

"Whaaa?"

"Never mind…"

Nel sighed as she took a seat and sipped her drink. Fayt was bound to turn up sooner or later… she might as well relax while waiting. After waiting for fifteen minutes, however, she decided to get up and look for him.

_"Hmm, wonder what's going on in these rooms…" _Nel rolled her eyes at the very question. What the hell else would be going on in the rooms? But if Fayt was in one of them…

She looked into the first one, and saw Rikku and Yuna making out with each other. Although definitely pleasant for some viewers, it wasn't exactly Nel's cup of tea.

Looking into the second one, she saw Maria and Albel, quite obviously fucking. Feeling that it would be a better idea to not witness two of her better friends in action, she moved onto the third room.

She could hear loud moans coming out from this one, but the window was being blocked by someone… watching? "Well, if they're drunk enough to get it on with someone watching right in front of them…"

Without hesitation, she knocked on the door three times. The moans didn't stop; they got louder. When she knocked again, Schweimer finally turned around. As soon as he saw who it was, his eyes lit up. He had not been expecting Nel to turn up… but hey, an opportunity was an opportunity.

"Hello, Zelpher. How nice of you to join us!" And he grabbed the shocked Nel and pulled her into the room as she screamed for help.

"Remember your blue-haired friend? Fayt? Well, I heard he had a thing for you, Zelpher." Schweimer was clearly enjoying this. Pinned up against the wall, Nel couldn't see anything behind her. "Now, turn around, and tell me if that's true."

Schweimer grabbed Nel and forced her around. Horrified, Nel's eyes welled up in tears as she saw a naked Aeris riding Fayt, and enjoying it very much. _Her_ Fayt.

"Looks like he don't think much of you, to be honest. If he's willin' to fuck these two dirtbags before you, I'd say you ain't that high on his list."

Nel didn't think twice. Suddenly breaking free of Schweimer's grip, she ran out of the room, crying, as Schweimer laughed at how well his plan had worked.

"Okay, your job is done, now get the fuck out of here," spat Schweimer as he pulled the girls off him and threw them out of the room, still naked.

Fayt was left in the room, completely naked and panting. "Nel…" was all he could say before Schweimer kicked him in the head and knocked him out cold. He knew no more.

* * *

Ze plot thickens! I promise shorter waits from now on, since it's summer. Promise! I'll even try to get a few more chapters in this week, if at all possible. Alright, enjoy. 


End file.
